Shire (/ʃaɪər/) is a traditional term for an administrative division of land inGreat Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous withcounty (such asCheshire andWorcestershire). British counties are among the oldest extant national divisions in the world.
It was first used inWessex from the beginning ofAnglo-Saxon settlement, and spread to most of the rest ofEngland in the 10th century. Today, 23 counties bear the "-shire" suffix in England, 23 inScotland, and 10 inWales.
In some rural parts ofAustralia, a shire is a local government area; however, in Australia, it is not synonymous with a "county", which is alands administrative division.
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The wordshire derives from theOld Englishsċir, from theProto-Germanic*skizo (Old High German:scira), denoting an 'official charge' a 'district under a governor', and a 'care'.[1] In the UK,shire became synonymous withcounty, an administrative term introduced to England through theNorman Conquest in the later part of the eleventh century. In contemporary British usage, the wordcounties also refers to shires, mainly in places such asShire Hall.[2]
In regions withrhotic pronunciation, such asScotland, the wordshire is pronounced/ʃaɪər/; in areas of non-rhotic pronunciation, the finalR is silent, unless the next word begins in a vowel sound. In England and Wales, whenshire is a place-name suffix, the vowel is unstressed and usually shortened (monophthongized); the pronunciations include/ʃər/ and/ʃɪər/, with the finalR pronunciation depending on rhoticity. The vowel is normally reduced to a singleschwa, as inLeicestershire/ˈlɛstərʃər/ or/ˈlɛstərʃɪər/ andBerkshire/ˈbɑːrkʃər/ or/ˈbɑːrkʃɪər/.[3]
The system was first used in the kingdom ofWessex from the beginning ofAnglo-Saxon settlement, and spread to most of the rest of England in the 10th century, along with the West Saxon kingdom's political domination. InDomesday (1086) the city ofYork was divided into shires.[4] The first shires of Scotland were created in English-settled areas such asLothian and theBorders, in the 9th century.King David I more consistently created shires and appointedsheriffs across lowlandshores of Scotland.[5]
The shire in early days was governed by anealdorman and in the later Anglo-Saxon period by a royal official known as a "shirereeve" orsheriff.[6] The shires were divided intohundreds orwapentakes, although other less common sub-divisions existed. An alternative name for a shire was a "sheriffdom" untilsheriff court reforms separated the two concepts. The phrase "shire county" applies, unofficially, tonon-metropolitan counties in England, specifically those that are not localunitary authority areas. In Scotland the word "county" was not adopted for the shires. Although "county" appears in some texts, "shire" was the normal name until counties for statutory purposes were created in the 19th century. In Ireland "shire" was not used for the counties.
In most cases, the "shire town" is the seat of the shire's government, or was historically. Sometimes the nomenclature exists even where "county" is used in place of "shire" as in, for instance,Kentville inNova Scotia.[7]
"Shire" also refers, in a narrower sense, to ancient counties with names that ended in "shire". These counties are typically (though not always) named after theircounty town. The suffix-shire is attached to most of the names of English, Scottish and Welsh counties. It tends not to be found in the names of shires that were pre-existing divisions.Essex,Kent, andSussex, for example, have never borne a-shire, as each represents a formerAnglo-Saxon kingdom. SimilarlyCornwall was aBritish kingdom before it became an English county. The term "shire" is not used in the names of thesix traditional counties ofNorthern Ireland.
Counties in England bearing the "-shire" suffix are:
These counties, on theirhistorical boundaries, cover a little more than half the area of England. The counties that do not use "-shire" are mainly in three areas, in the south-east, south-west and far north of England. Several of these counties no longer exist as administrative units, or have had their administrative boundaries reduced by local government reforms. Several of the successor authorities retain the "-shire" county names, such asNorthYorkshire,East Riding ofYorkshire,SouthYorkshire, andWestYorkshire.
The county ofDevon was historically known as Devonshire, although this is no longer the official name.[8] Indeed, it was retained by theDevonshire and Dorset Regiment until amalgamation in 2007. Similarly,Dorset,Rutland andSomerset were formerly known as Dorsetshire, Rutlandshire and Somersetshire, but these terms are no longer official, and are rarely used outside the local populations.
Hexhamshire was a county in the north-east of England from the early 12th century until 1572, when it was incorporated intoNorthumberland.
Scotland was barely affected by theNorman conquest of England, and the word "shire" prevailed over "county" until the 19th century. Earliest sources have the same usage of the "-shire" suffix as in England (although in Scots this was most oftenschyr). Later, "Shire" appears as a separate word.
"Shire" names in Scotland are:
In Scotland four shires have alternative names with the "-shire" suffix:Angus (Forfarshire),East Lothian (Haddingtonshire),Midlothian (Edinburghshire) andWest Lothian (Linlithgowshire).
Sutherland is occasionally still referred to as Sutherlandshire. Similarly,Argyllshire,Buteshire,Caithness-shire andFifeshire are sometimes found. Also, Morayshire was previously called Elginshire. There is debate about whether Argyllshire was ever really used.
Shires inWales bearing the "-shire" suffix (Sir preceding the name in Welsh) are:
The counties ofMerioneth andGlamorgan are occasionally referred to with the "shire" suffix. The only traditional Welsh county that never takes "shire" in English isAnglesey; in Welsh it is calledSir Fôn.
Historically, the suffix "-shire" could be a generalised term referring to a district. It did not acquire the strong association withcounty until later[when?]. Other than these, the term was used for several other districts.Bedlingtonshire,Craikshire,Norhamshire andIslandshire wereexclaves of County Durham, and wereincorporated into Northumberland or Yorkshire in 1844. The suffix was also used for manyhundreds,wapentakes andliberties such as:
Also carrying the "shire" suffix werecounties corporate such asHullshire, and other districts such asApplebyshire,Bamburghshire,Carlisleshire,Coldinghamshire,Cravenshire,Hallamshire,Mashamshire andYetholmshire.
Richmondshire was, from 1974 to 2023, the name of alocal government district ofNorth Yorkshire.[9][10]
Non-county shires were very common in Scotland.Kinross-shire andClackmannanshire are arguably[by whom?] survivals from such districts. Non-county "shires" in Scotland includeColdinghamshire andYetholmshire.
Colloquially, the term "the Shires" has become used to refer to those counties, particularly of the southernMidlands, which are still largely rural and which are stereotypically thought of as places where a morebucolic lifestyle is possible.[11]
Before theProvince of New York was granted county subdivisions and a greater royal presence in 1683, the early ducal colony consisted ofYork Shire, as well asAlbany andUlster, after the three titles held byPrince James:Duke of York,Duke of Albany,Earl of Ulster.
The word also survives in the name of thestate ofNew Hampshire, whose co-founder,John Mason, named hisProvince of New Hampshire after the English county ofHampshire.
Vermont has 14 counties, whose county seats are called shire towns.Bennington County is unique in having two shire towns,Bennington ("The Southshire") andManchester ("The Northshire")
In 1634, eight "shires" were created in theVirginia Colony by order ofCharles I, King of England. They were renamed ascounties only a few years later. They were:
Today, the concept of a "Shire" still exists in Virginia code. It is defined as a semi-autonomous subdivision of a consolidated City-County. Currently no Shires exist in the commonwealth and the administrative provision is largely unknown.[12]
"Shire" is the most common word in Australia for rurallocal government areas (LGAs).New South Wales, theNorthern Territory,Queensland,Victoria, andWestern Australia, use the term "shire" for this unit; the territories of theChristmas Island and theCocos (Keeling) Islands are also shires. In contrast,South Australia usesdistrict andregion for its rural LGA units, whileTasmania usesmunicipality. Shires are generally functionally indistinguishable fromtowns,boroughs,municipalities, orcities.
Three LGAs in outer metropolitan Sydney and four in outer metropolitanMelbourne have populations exceeding that of towns or municipalities, but retain significant bushlands and/or semi-rural areas, and most have continued to use "shire" in their titles whilst others have dropped it from theirs. These "city-shires" are:
Melbourne:
Sydney:
The Shire, homeland of thehobbits inJ. R. R. Tolkien's works, where bothThe Hobbit andThe Lord of the Rings begin and end, got its name from the English administrative land division described in this article.
