36-567: A Three Shire Stone is a monument marking the point where three shires meet. The term is mostly used in England . Some notable Three Shire landmarks are: Shire Shire ( / ʃ aɪər / , also / ʃ ɪər / ) 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
72-610: A "county", which is a lands administrative division . The word shire derives from the Old English sċir , from the Proto-Germanic * skizo ( Old High German : scira ), denoting an 'official charge' a 'district under a governor', and a 'care'. In the UK, shire became synonymous with county , an administrative term introduced to England through the Norman Conquest in
108-553: A county in the north-east of England from the early 12th century until 1572, when it was incorporated into Northumberland . In Scotland, barely affected by the Norman conquest of England , the word "shire" prevailed over "county" until the 19th century. Earliest sources have the same usage of the "-shire" suffix as in England (though in Scots this was oftenmost "schyr"). Later the "Shire" appears as
144-700: A former Anglo-Saxon kingdom . Similarly Cornwall was a British kingdom before it became an English county. The term "shire" is not used in the names of the six traditional counties of Northern Ireland . Counties in England bearing the "-shire" suffix comprise: Bedfordshire , Berkshire , Buckinghamshire , Cambridgeshire , Cheshire , Derbyshire , Gloucestershire , Hampshire , Herefordshire , Hertfordshire , Huntingdonshire , Lancashire , Lincolnshire , Leicestershire , Northamptonshire , Nottinghamshire , Oxfordshire , Shropshire , Staffordshire , Warwickshire , Wiltshire , Worcestershire and Yorkshire . These counties, on their historical boundaries , cover
180-526: 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 as North Yorkshire , East Yorkshire , South Yorkshire , West Yorkshire , and South Gloucestershire . The county of Devon
216-493: A more bucolic lifestyle is possible. Before the Province of New York was granted county subdivisions and a greater royal presence in 1683, the early ducal colony consisted of York Shire , as well as Albany and Ulster , after the three titles held by Prince James : Duke of York , Duke of Albany , Earl of Ulster . While these were basically renamed Dutch core settlements, they were quickly converted to English purposes, while
252-421: A narrower sense, to ancient counties with names that ended in "shire". These counties are typically (though not always) named after their county 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 , and Sussex , for example, have never borne a -shire , as each represents
288-399: A number of new counties were created, several of the new authorities (such as Cornwall or Northumberland) continued to have the boundaries set in 1974. The 2019–2023 structural changes to local government in England have involved changes to the non-metropolitan county of Dorset (2019), and the abolition of the non-metropolitan counties Northamptonshire (2021) and Cumbria (2023). In addition,
324-619: A royal county. With the creation of numerous new non-metropolitan counties, the areas used for lieutenancy and shrievalty began to diverge from local government areas. This led to the development of ceremonial counties for these purposes, a fact recognised by the Lieutenancies Act 1997 . A further wave of unitary authorities were created in 2009 under the terms of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 . While
360-541: A separate word. "Shire" names in Scotland comprise 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 , and Wigtownshire . In Scotland four shires have alternative names with
396-489: A single body. Berkshire has a unique structure. Non-metropolitan counties cover the majority of England with the exception of Greater London , the Isles of Scilly , and the six metropolitan counties : Greater Manchester , Merseyside , South Yorkshire , Tyne and Wear , West Midlands and West Yorkshire . The non-metropolitan counties are all part of ceremonial counties . Some ceremonial counties, such as Norfolk , contain
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#1732848873565432-639: A single non-metropolitan county, but many contain more than one and it is also common for ceremonial counties and non-metropolitan counties to share a name. Lancashire, for example, contains the non-metropolitan counties of Lancashire , Blackpool , and Blackburn with Darwen . Prior to 1974 local government had been divided between single-tier county boroughs (the largest towns and cities) and two-tier administrative counties which were subdivided into municipal boroughs and urban and rural districts . The Local Government Act 1972 , which came into effect on 1 April 1974, divided England outside Greater London and
468-425: Is a subdivision of England used for local government . The non-metropolitan counties were originally created in 1974 as part of a reform of local government in England and Wales , and were the top tier of a two-tier system of counties and districts . 21 non-metropolitan counties still use a two-tier system; 56 are unitary authorities , in which the functions of a county and district council have been combined in
504-514: Is a place-name suffix, the vowel is unstressed and usually shortened ( monophthongized ); the pronunciations include / ʃ ər / and / ʃ ɪər / , with the final R pronunciation depending on rhoticity. The vowel is normally reduced to a single schwa , as in Leicestershire / ˈ l ɛ s t ər ʃ ər / or / ˈ l ɛ s t ər ʃ ɪər / and Berkshire / ˈ b ɑːr k ʃ ər / or / ˈ b ɑːr k ʃ ɪər / . The system
540-401: The "-shire" suffix: Angus (Forfarshire), East Lothian (Haddingtonshire), Midlothian (Edinburghshire) and West Lothian (Linlithgowshire). Sutherland is occasionally still referred to as Sutherlandshire. Similarly, Argyllshire , Buteshire , Caithness-shire and Fifeshire are sometimes found. Also, Morayshire was previously called Elginshire. There is debate about whether Argyllshire
576-630: The "shire" suffix. The only traditional Welsh county that never takes "shire" in English is Anglesey ; in Welsh it is referred to as 'Sir Fôn'. The suffix "-shire" could be a generalised term referring to a district. It did not acquire the strong association with county until later. 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
612-640: The Dutch remained within the colony, as opposed to later practice of the Acadian Expulsion . Further Anglo-Dutch synthesis occurred when Prince James enacted the Dominion of New England and later when William III of England took over through the Glorious Revolution . The word also survives in the name of the state of New Hampshire , whose co-founder, John Mason , named his Province of New Hampshire after
648-512: The English county of Hampshire . Vermont has 14 counties – each has one county seat or Shire, except the Shire Towns of Southwestern Vermont where there is a South Shire – Bennington and a North Shire – Manchester. In 1634, eight "shires" were created in the Virginia Colony by order of Charles I , King of England. They were renamed as counties only a few years later. They were: Today,
684-450: The administrative structure of the non-metropolitan counties. It was anticipated that a system of unitary authorities would entirely replace the two-tier system. The Commission faced competing claims from former county boroughs wishing to regain unitary status and advocates for the restoration of such small counties as Herefordshire and Rutland. The review led to the introduction of unitary local government in some areas but not in others. In
720-587: 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. "Shire" is the most common word in Australia for rural local government areas (LGAs) . New South Wales , the Northern Territory , Queensland , Victoria , and Western Australia , use
756-408: The later part of the eleventh century. In contemporary British usage, the word counties also refers to shires, mainly in places such as Shire Hall . In regions with rhotic pronunciation, such as Scotland , the word shire is pronounced / ʃ aɪər / ; in areas of non-rhotic pronunciation, the final R is silent, unless the next word begins in a vowel sound. In England and Wales, when shire
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#1732848873565792-486: The majority of unitary authorities an existing district council took over powers from the county council. The 1972 Act required that all areas outside Greater London form part of a non-metropolitan county, and that all such counties should contain at least one district. Accordingly, the statutory instruments that effected the reorganisation separated the unitary districts from the county in which they were situated and constituted them as counties. The orders also provided that
828-405: The merger between Cumberland and Westmorland . The counties were adopted for all statutory purposes: a lord-lieutenant and high sheriff was appointed to each county, and they were also used for judicial administration, and definition of police force areas. The Royal Mail adopted the counties for postal purposes in most areas. A Local Government Commission was appointed in 1992 to review
864-547: The non-metropolitan counties of Buckinghamshire (2020), North Yorkshire (2023), and Somerset (2023) are unchanged, but their councils became unitary authorities as the existing non-metropolitan districts in these areas were consolidated and the district councils abolished. The following list shows the original thirty-nine counties formed in 1974, subsequent changes in the 1990s, and further changes since then. 1980: renamed Shropshire 1998: Renamed Telford and Wrekin In Wales there
900-403: The non-metropolitan counties were largely based on existing counties, although they did include a number of innovations. Some counties were based on areas surrounding large county boroughs or were formed by the mergers of smaller counties. Examples of the first category are Avon (based on Bath and Bristol) and Cleveland (based on Teesside ). An example of the second category is Cumbria , formed by
936-606: The oldest extant national divisions in the world. It was first used in Wessex from the beginning of Anglo-Saxon settlement , and spread to most of the rest of England in the 10th century. Today, 23 counties bear the "-shire" suffix in England, 23 in Scotland , and 10 in Wales . In some rural parts of Australia , a shire is a local government area; however, in Australia, it is not synonymous with
972-428: The provisions of the 1972 Act that every county should have a county council should not apply in the new counties, with the district council exercising the powers of the county council. An exception was made in the case of Berkshire , which was retained with its existing boundaries in spite of the abolition of its county council and the creation of six unitary authorities. This was done in order to preserve its status as
1008-467: The six largest conurbations into thirty-nine non-metropolitan counties. Each county was divided into anywhere between two and fourteen non-metropolitan districts . There was a uniform two-tier system of local government with county councils dealing with "wide-area" services such as education, fire services and the police, and district councils exercising more local powers over areas such as planning, housing and refuse collection. As originally constituted,
1044-909: The term "shire" for this unit; the territories of the Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands are also shires. In contrast, South Australia uses district and region for its rural LGA units, while Tasmania uses municipality . Shires are generally functionally indistinguishable from towns , boroughs , municipalities , or cities . Three LGAs in outer metropolitan Sydney and four in outer metropolitan Melbourne 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: Non-metropolitan county A non-metropolitan county , or colloquially, shire county ,
1080-547: 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 in Nova Scotia . "Shire" also refers, in
1116-510: Was also used for many hundreds , wapentakes and liberties such as Allertonshire , Blackburnshire , Halfshire , Howdenshire , Leylandshire , Powdershire , Pydarshire , Richmondshire , Riponshire , Salfordshire , Triggshire , Tynemouthshire , West Derbyshire and Wivelshire , counties corporate such as Hullshire , and other districts such as Applebyshire , Bamburghshire , Carlisleshire , Coldinghamshire , Cravenshire , Hallamshire , Mashamshire and Yetholmshire . Richmondshire
Three Shire Stone - Misplaced Pages Continue
1152-556: Was ever really used. Shires in Wales bearing the "-shire" suffix ( Sir preceding the name in Welsh) comprise: Brecknockshire (or Breconshire), Caernarfonshire (historically Carnarvonshire), Cardiganshire (in Welsh- Ceredigion), Carmarthenshire , Denbighshire , Flintshire , Monmouthshire , Montgomeryshire , Pembrokeshire , and Radnorshire . In Wales, the counties of Merioneth and Glamorgan are occasionally referred to with
1188-697: Was first used in the kingdom of Wessex from the beginning of Anglo-Saxon settlement , and spread to most of the rest of England in the 10th century, along with the West Saxon kingdom's political domination. In Domesday (1086) the city of York was divided into shires. The first shires of Scotland were created in English-settled areas such as Lothian and the Borders , in the 9th century. King David I more consistently created shires and appointed sheriffs across lowland shores of Scotland. The shire in early days
1224-515: Was governed by an ealdorman and in the later Anglo-Saxon period by a royal official known as a "shire reeve " or sheriff . The shires were divided into hundreds or wapentakes , although other less common sub-divisions existed. An alternative name for a shire was a "sheriffdom" until sheriff court reforms separated the two concepts. The phrase "shire county" applies, unofficially, to non-metropolitan counties in England, specifically those that are not local unitary authority areas. In Scotland
1260-453: Was historically known as Devonshire, although this is no longer the official name. Indeed, it was retained by the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment until amalgamation in 2007. Similarly, Dorset , Rutland and Somerset 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
1296-549: Was until 2023 the name of a local government district of North Yorkshire . Non-county shires were very common in Scotland. Kinross-shire and Clackmannanshire are arguably survivals from such districts. Non-county "shires" in Scotland include Coldinghamshire and Yetholmshire . Colloquially, the term "the Shires" has become used to refer to those counties, particularly of the southern Midlands , which are still largely rural and which are stereotypically thought of as being where
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