Land History
The land on which the Canterbury Woods subdivision was built has a long and storied history. Native Americans lived on this land prior to the arrival of the Europeans. When the Europeans finally arrived in the Virginia area, and specifically in our region, it’s likely that they encountered the Doeg (also called “Dogue”, “Taux”, “Tauxenet”) who were living, hunting, and transiting in or around Canterbury Woods. The Doeg are a tribe that spoke a dialect of the Algonquian language.
After the English claimed the territory in our area, the English Civil War played a large part as to who would end up with the legal rights to own the land that we now live on. Charles I lost the Civil War and was executed. Charles I son fled England to France, but declared himself the rightful King of England and became known as Charles II. While Charles II was in exile in France, he rewarded seven of his loyal supporters by granting them land in northern Virginia. In September 1649, Sir John Culpeper (1st Baron of Thoresway) was granted land that includes the area on which the Canterbury Woods subdivision was built. Six other loyal supporters were also granted land in the Northern Neck region of Virginia. The entire area granted to his seven loyal supporters is known as the “Northern Neck” Land grant. The Northern Neck land grant would later be called the “Fairfax” grant due to the fact that the Fairfax family would eventually be the sole owners of the entire Northern Neck land grant.
There were a lot of back and forth claims to the land granted by Charles II to seven of his loyal supporters, but eventually Sir Thomas Culpeper (the 1st Baron of Thoresway’s son) ended up owning 5/6th of the original 1649 grant. The other 1/6th of the land was owned by his cousin, Alexander Culpeper. Sir Thomas Culpeper and family were trying to manage control of the land from England, but that was proving difficult. They needed someone in the colonies to act as their land agents. The Culpeper’s ended up hiring land agents to help manage the property, and one of those land agents was named William Fitzhugh. The stories of the various land agents are pretty interesting on their own, but I’m only mentioning William Fitzhugh as one of the land agents because he ends up owning the land on which Canterbury Woods is located. William Fitzhugh bought the tract of land (21,994 acres) in 1685 from John Matthews. William Fitzhugh eventually named the tract of land “Ravensworth” after a family estate located in England. Through the years the Fitzhugh family would divide the Ravensworth tract into parcels as the land was passed through the family by inheritance. Therefore, the future site of Canterbury Woods would pass through several owners, but most of them were relatives of the Fitzhugh family.
The original 1649 land grant by Charles II was renewed in 1688 by King James II, giving Sir Thomas Culpeper rights to the land in perpetuity. There is more detail given at the link below:
http://www.virginiaplaces.org/settleland/fairfaxgrant.html
When Sir Thomas Culpeper died in 1689 his widow, Margaret Culpeper, inherited the 5/6th portion of the 1649 land grant in Virginia. Thomas and Margaret had one child together and her name was Catherine Culpeper. Alexander Culpeper had the remaining 1/6th of the land grant, but when he died in 1694 he bequeathed the rights of his portion of the land grant to Margaret Culpeper. When Margaret Culpeper was bequeathed the land, she was married to Thomas Fifth Lord Fairfax of Cameron. Thomas ended up managing the land that his wife and mother-in-law owned, which when combined together was the entire Northern Neck land grant. Thomas was also instrumental in getting the land grant reaffirmed by William and Mary in 1693. Thomas managed the land from England, and William Fitzhugh was still an influential land agent working on behalf of Thomas Fifth Lord Fairfax of Cameron.
Thomas Fifth Lord Fairfax of Cameron and Margaret Culpeper both died in 1710. Margaret’s daughter, Catherine Culpeper retained her rights to the 1/6th portion of the land grant, but when her mother died she left her 5/6th portion of the land grant to her grandson, Thomas Fairfax (16 years old). Thomas Fairfax, (Sixth Lord Fairfax), was the oldest son of Margaret Culpeper and Thomas Fifth Lord Fairfax of Cameron. Margaret Culpeper managed the land grant from England with the help of land agents in Virginia from 1710 until her death in 1719. At the time, Thomas Sixth Lord Fairfax became the sole owner of the entire 1649 land grant. Again, this is the reason why the Northern Neck land grant also became known as the Fairfax land grant. The two terms refer to the same area of land, but at different times in history.
Thomas Sixth Lord Fairfax continued managing the land grant from England until his main Land Agent, Robert Carter, died in 1732. At this time Thomas decided to personally manage the land grant and eventually traveled to Virginia and then finally established permanent residence in 1747. He entrusted his cousin William Fairfax to serve as his main land agent. William Fairfax built a mansion called “Belvoir” in 1741 and was instrumental in getting the General Assembly to create Fairfax County.
