Shire
A
shire is an administrative area of
Great Britain and
Australia. The first shires were created by the
Anglo-Saxons in what is now central and southern
England. Shires were controlled by a royal official known as a "shire
reeve" or
sheriff. Historically shires were sub-divided into
hundreds or
wapentakes although other less common sub-divisions existed. In modern English usage shires are sub-divided into districts.
In England and Wales, the term "
shire county" is used to refer to
county level entities which are not
metropolitan counties.
It can also be used in a narrower sense, referring only to
traditional counties ending in "shire". These counties are typically (though not always) named after their
county town.
Bedfordshire,
Berkshire,
Buckinghamshire,
Cambridgeshire,
Cheshire,
Derbyshire,
Gloucestershire,
Hampshire,
Herefordshire,
Hertfordshire,
Huntingdonshire,
Lancashire,
Lincolnshire,
Leicestershire,
Northamptonshire,
Nottinghamshire,
Oxfordshire,
Shropshire,
Staffordshire,
Warwickshire,
Wiltshire,
Worcestershire,
Yorkshire.
Of these, all but Huntingdonshire and Yorkshire are also administrative counties (but with different boundaries). Huntingdonshire is now administered as a district of Cambridgeshire, and Yorkshire is split between
East,
North,
South and
West Yorkshire.
The counties of
Devon,
Dorset,
Rutland and
Somerset were occasionally referred to with the "shire" suffix. This usage is now considered archaic.
Brecknockshire,
Caernarvonshire,
Cardiganshire,
Carmarthenshire,
Denbighshire,
Flintshire,
Monmouthshire,
Montgomeryshire,
Pembrokeshire,
RadnorshireIn Wales, the counties of
Merioneth and
Glamorgan are occasionally referred to with the "shire" suffix. The only traditional Welsh county that never takes "shire" is
Anglesey.
Non-county shires
The suffix –
shire was a generalised term referring to a district. It did not acquire the strong association with
county until later, though the former
Hexhamshire and
Winchcombeshire were considered counties. The area of
Richmondshire in
North Yorkshire is today a
local government district. The term shire thus predates the creation of England's counties, referring originally to a more local jurisdiction.
Other than these, the term was used for several other districts.
Bedlingtonshire,
Craikshire,
Norhamshire and
Islandshire were
exclaves of County Durham, which were incorporated into Northumberland or
Yorkshire in
1844. The suffix was also was used for many
hundreds,
wapentakes and liberties such as
Allertonshire,
Blackburnshire,
Halfshire,
Howdenshire,
Leylandshire,
Powdershire,
Pydenshire,
Salfordshire,
Triggshire,
Tynemouthshire,
West Derbyshire and
Wivelshire,
counties corporate such as
Hullshire, and other districts such as
Applebyshire,
Bamburghshire,
Bunkleshire,
Carlisleshire,
Coldinghamshire,
Coxwoldshire,
Cravenshire,
Hallamshire and
Yetholmshire.
Non-county shires were very common in
Scotland.
Kinross-shire and
Clackmannanshire are probably survivals from such districts. In Scotland the term
shire county is unknown, and the use of
shire to refer to sheriffdoms or counties was intermittent, dating largely from the 19th century. It may be seen as an
anglification or an example of the power of
analogy. The traditional names, insofar as this is a reasonable term to employ, omit the suffix -shire.
Aberdeenshire,
Ayrshire,
Banffshire,
Berwickshire,
Clackmannanshire,
Cromartyshire,
Dumfriesshire,
Dunbartonshire,
Inverness-shire,
Kincardineshire,
Kinross-shire,
Kirkcudbrightshire,
Lanarkshire,
Morayshire,
Nairnshire,
Peeblesshire,
Perthshire,
Renfrewshire,
Ross-shire,
Roxburghshire,
Selkirkshire,
Stirlingshire,
Wigtownshire In Scotland four counties have alternative names with the "shire" suffix:
Angus (Forfarshire),
East Lothian (Haddingtonshire),
Midlothian (Edinburghshire) and
West Lothian (Linlithgowshire).
Sutherland is occasionally still referred to as Sutherlandshire, despite there being no town called Sutherland. Similarly,
Argyllshire,
Buteshire and
Caithness-shire are sometimes found. Also, Morayshire was previously called Elginshire.
Shire is the most common word in
Australia for the smallest
local government areas by population. The states of
New South Wales,
Victoria,
Queensland and
Western Australia use shire for this unit.
South Australia and
Tasmania use
district. A shire has the same powers as the next largest units, the
town and
city. In NSW, the expression 'the Shire' commonly refers to the
Sutherland shire.
In
1634, eight shires were created in the
Virginia Colony by order of the King of England. They were renamed as counties only a few years later. They were:
*
Accomack *
Charles City Shire (now
Charles City County, Virginia)
*
Charles River Shire (now
York County, Virginia)
*
Elizabeth City Shire*
Henrico (now
Henrico County, Virginia)
*
James City Shire (now
James City County, Virginia)
*
Warwick River Shire *
Warrosquyoake Shire now (
Isle of Wight County, Virginia)
Of these, five are considered still extant in essentially their same political form in
Virginia as of 2006, although most boundaries have changed in almost 400 years.
*
Counties of England*
Counties of Scotland*
Counties of Wales*
Traditional counties of the British Isles*
Gau*
Scirii*
The Shire in
the Lord of the Rings
