Shire′man,
a sheriff
; Shire′-moot, Shire′-mote, formerly in England a court of the county held periodically by the sheriff together with the bishop or the ealdorman. [A.S. scir, scire, a county, sciran, a secondary form of sceran, to cut off.]
What is a shire in the UK?
Shire, in Great Britain, a county. The Anglo-Saxon shire (Old English scir) was
an administrative division next above the hundred
and seems to have existed in the south in the time of Alfred the Great (871–899) and to have been fully established by the reign of Edgar (959–975).
What does shire mean in America?
shire in American English
1.
any of the former districts or regions in Great Britain
. 2. any of the counties of England, esp. one with a name ending in -shire.
How many UK counties end in shire?
1. The shires. Nearly half the counties –
19
of them – are very clearly named after their county town, or at least, a town that used to be.
What’s the difference between a county and a shire?
As nouns the difference between county and shire
is that
county is (historical) the land ruled by a count or a countess
while shire is former administrative area of britain; a county.
What is the word shire mean?
(Entry 1 of 2) 1 :
an administrative subdivision especially
: a county in England. 2 : any of an old breed of large heavy draft horses of British origin having heavily feathered legs.
Where does shire come from?
The word shire derives
from the Old English sćir, from the Proto-Germanic *skizo (Old High German: sćira)
, denoting an ‘official charge’ a ‘district under a governor’, and a ‘care’.
What is the difference between a shire and a hundred?
Above the hundred was the shire, under the control of a sheriff. Hundred boundaries were independent of both parish and county boundaries, although often aligned, meaning that a
hundred could be split between counties
, or a parish could be split between hundreds.
How many shire horses are left in the UK?
One hundred years ago, there were a million Shire horses working the land in Britain. Today, there are
fewer than 3,000
.
Who rules a shire?
| The Shire | Ruler Thain and Mayor of the Shire | Ethnic group(s) Harfoots, Stoors, Fallohides | Race(s) Hobbits | Location Northwest of Middle-earth |
|---|
What is the smallest county in England?
Rutland
, unitary authority and historic county in the East Midlands of England. Rutland, wedged between Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and Northamptonshire, is the smallest county—historic or otherwise—in England. Oakham is the administrative centre. Rutland Water, a reservoir in central Rutland, Eng.
What are the 4 counties of England?
- Bedfordshire.
- Berkshire.
- Bristol.
- Buckinghamshire.
- Cambridgeshire.
- Cheshire.
- Cornwall.
- County Durham.
What defines a shire county?
A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is
a county-level entity in England that is not a metropolitan county
. The counties typically have populations of 300,000 to 1.4 million. The term shire county is, however, an unofficial usage.
How large is a shire?
The shire horse is the tallest horse breed, standing at an average of
around 16 hands (64 inches) to 18 hands (72 inches)
. Some shires even reach 19 hands (76 inches) or more, with the stallions generally being taller than the mares. The breed typically weighs between 1,800 and 2,400 pounds.
What does Shire mean in Scotland?
The shires of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachdan na h-Alba), or counties of Scotland, are
historic subdivisions of Scotland established in the Middle Ages and used as administrative divisions until 1975
.
