Lower Norfolk County is a long-extinct county which was organized in colonial Virginia, operating from 1637 until 1691.

New Norfolk County New Norfolk County is a long-extinct county which was located in colonial Virginia from 1636 until 1637. It was formed in 1636 from Elizabeth City Shire, one of the eight original shires (or counties) formed in 1634 in the colony of Virginia by d ...

was formed in 1636 from

Elizabeth City Shire Elizabeth City Shire was one of eight Shires of Virginia, shires created in Colony of Virginia, colonial Virginia in 1634. The shire and the Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth River were named for Elizabeth of Bohemia, daughter of King James I ...

, one of the eight original

shire Shire () is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Cheshire and Worcestershire). British counties are among the oldes ...

s (or

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

) formed in 1634 in the colony of Virginia by direction of the King of England. New Norfolk County included all the area in

South Hampton Roads South Hampton Roads is a region located in the extreme southeastern portion of Virginia's Tidewater region in the United States with a total population of 1,177,742 as of 2020. It is part of the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA ( M ...

now incorporated in the five independent cities located there in modern times. The following year, in 1637, it was divided into Upper Norfolk County and Lower Norfolk County. On October 20, 1673 the "Grand Assembly" at Jamestown authorized Lower Norfolk County to construct a fort."America and West Indies: March 1676." Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 9, 1675-1676 and Addenda 1574-1674. Ed. W Noel Sainsbury. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1893. 355-365
British History Online
Retrieved 5 June 2019. As settler population increased, in 1691 Lower Norfolk County was divided to form

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

and

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950) is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of King ...

counties. These jurisdictions were maintained for centuries. In 1963, after approval by referendum of the voters of the City of

South Norfolk South Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. The largest town is Wymondham, and the district also includes the towns of Costessey, Diss, Harleston, Hingham, Loddon and Long Stratton. The council was based in Long S ...

and of the rest of Norfolk County, and the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

, these areas were combined and reorganized as a new independent city, ending the threat of additional annexations by the City of

. The new name selected by the voters was Chesapeake, and so, the new city of

Chesapeake, Virginia Chesapeake is an independent city in Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,422, making it the second-most populous city in Virginia, the tenth largest in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 92nd-most populous city in the ...

was organized. Also in 1963, after approval by referendum of the voters of the City of

Virginia Beach Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the List of cities in Virginia, most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeaster ...

and the rest of Princess Anne County, and the

, those two areas were consolidated as an independent city, taking the better-known name of Virginia Beach.

References

* * {{coord missing, Virginia Colonial Virginia counties 1637 establishments in the Colony of Virginia Former counties of Virginia

See also

References