Lawne's Creek Parish was on the south side of James River. Its formation was authorized by the January, 1640, General Assembly.

An Act of March, 1643, relieved the inhabitants of the burden of supporting James City Parish, because they were living within Lawne's Creek parish. Its boundaries were described as beginning at the mouth of Hogg Island Creek, then running along James River to Lanes [Lawne's] Creek, then from Lanes [Lawne's] Creek to the head of its uppermost branches, then westerly to the head of the upper branches of [Lower] Chippokes Creek, then to the mouth of [Lower] Chippokes Creek, then back to Hogg Island Creek. While early acts also described a Chippokes Parish, it seems to have been absorbed by Lawne's Creek.

Southwark Parish was created in 1647 and described as encompassing all the territory extending from "the colledge" [College Creek] to (and including) the Upper Chipoaks [Upper Chippokes Creek]. Surry County was cut off from James City County in 1652, and Lawne's Creek and Southwark Parishes then lay within it.

Upon the organization of Brunswick County in 1732, Lawne's Creek and Southwark Parishes were divided at the Blackwater River. Their areas south of the river were combined into the new Albemarle Parish. Their areas north of the river were combined into Southwark Parish, so that Lawne's Creek Parish ceased to exist as a separate entity.

References: Charles Francis Cocke, Parish Lines Diocese of Southern Virginia (1964, Richmond, VA) 56-61;
William Waller Hening, The Statutes at Large..., vol I (Charlottesville, 1969) 277 cited by Cocke.