u did not come until 1762; there was pressure from the
more influential citizens of Alexandria to move it to that city.

At any rate, the Court was moved to Alexandria in 1752 and there it
remained until 1799. The gallows remained at Freedom Hill. When a
death sentence was passed, the prisoner was taken out The Little
River Turnpike from Alexandria to Annandale, thence along "Court
House Road" to the gallows. Eventually the name "Court House Road"
was changed to "Gallows Road", which name a portion of the road
bears today.

During the forty-seven years court was held in Alexandria, the
building fell into such disrepair that it finally became an unfit
place in which to hold business, thereby speeding the acceptance of
a proposal by George Mason and other influential residents that the
Court be moved to Fairfax.

At that time there lived in Fairfax a man by the name of Richard
Ratcliffe who held large tracts of land in this area. His holdings
began at the Ravensworth line and swept over and through all the
area that the Town of Fairfax now occupies, traveling on into what
is now Loudoun County.

When plans became final to move the Court House from Alexandria to
Fairfax, Richard Ratcliffe sold to Charles Little, David Stuart,
William Payne, James Wren and George Minor, for one dollar, four
acres of land "to erect thereupon an house, for holding the Pleas of
the said County of Fairfax, a clerks office for the safe keeping of
the records and papers of the said County, a Goal and all and every
other building and machine necessary for the Justices of the Peace
for the said County from time to time to erect for the purpose of
holding the pleas of the said County, preserving the Records and
publick papers, securing and safe keeping of prisoners and
reserving good order and the publick peace but for no other
use or purpose whatever and also the undisturbed use of and
privilege of all the springs upon the lands of Him the said Richard
Ratcliffe ...", dated June 27, 1799.

Records show that a Richard Ratcliffe came to this country from
England in 1637 along with John Bristoe, Robert Turner, Henry
Warren, Thomas Clarke and Robert Throckmorton--Lord of the Manor of
Ellington. It is assumed that the descendants of Ratcliffe and
Throckmorton worked their way into the vicinity of the future town
of Fairfax for their names appear often in the records and newspaper
clippings.

The Richard Ratcliffe who gave the land for the court