Hopton, Earl of
St. Albans, Lord Culpeper, Lord Berkeley, Sir William Morton, Sir
Dudley Wyatt, and Thomas Culpeper. All the territory lying between the
Rappahannock and Potomac rivers to their sources was included in this
grant, afterwards known as the "Fairfax Patent," and still later as
the "Northern Neck of Virginia."

"The only conditions attached to the conveyance of this domain, the
equivalent of a principality, were that one-fifth of all the gold and
one-tenth of all the silver discovered within its limits should be
reserved for the royal use, and that a nominal rent of a few pounds
sterling should be paid into the treasury at Jamestown each year. In
1669 the letters patent were surrendered by the existing holders and
in their stead new ones were issued.... The terms of these letters
required that the whole area included in this magnificent gift should
be planted and inhabited by the end of twenty-one years, but in 1688
this provision was revoked by the King as imposing an impracticable
condition."[2]

[Footnote 2: Bruce's _Economic History of Virginia_.]

The patentees, some years afterward, sold the grant to the second Lord
Culpeper, to whom it was confirmed by letters patent of King James II,
in 1688. From Culpeper the rights and privileges conferred by the
original grant descended through his daughter, Catherine, to her son,
Lord Thomas Fairfax, Baron of Cameron--a princely heritage for a young
man of 20 years.

BOUNDARIES.

The original boundaries of Loudoun County were changed by the
following act of the General Assembly, passed January 3, 1798, and
entitled "An Act for adding part of the county of Loudoun to the
county of Fairfax, and altering the place of holding courts in Fairfax
County."

1. _Be it enacted by the General Assembly_, That all that
part of the county of Loudoun lying between the lower
boundary thereof, and a line to be drawn from the mouth of
Sugar Land run, to Carter's mill, on Bull run, shall be, and
is hereby added to and made part of the county of Fairfax:
Provided always, That it shall be lawful for the sheriff of
the said county of Loudoun to collect and make distress for
any public dues or officers fees, which shall remain unpaid
by the inhabitants of that part of the said county hereby
added to the county of Fairfax, and shall be accountable for
the same in like manner as if this act had not been made.

2. _A