A park was established next to the castle; a park was highly prestigious and it enabled Thomas to engage in hunting, provided the castle with a supply of venison as well as generating income.Creighton, pp.190-1; Creighton and Higham, p.57. Most of the village of Wittenham had to be destroyed to make way for the park and the site eventually became a deserted village.Bettey, p.59. A new parish church, St Leonard's Chapel, was built by Thomas just outside the castle, after he had demolished the earlier, simpler 12th-century church during the construction of the inner court.Kightly, pp.11, 18; Creighton, p.124; Miles and Saunders, p.167; Wilcox, p.87. Thomas died in 1397 and was buried in the newly built St Anne's Chapel, forming the north transept of St Leonard's Chapel.Kightly, p.13.
