Is a shire the same as a county?
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Is a shire the same as a county?
Shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the beginning of Anglo-Saxon settlement, and spread to most of the rest of England in the tenth century.
What makes a county a shire?
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 1.8 million. The term shire county is, however, an unofficial usage.
Why are English counties called shires?
“Shire” is just the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of the old French word “county”, so Yorkshire, for example, means “County of York”.
Why do counties end in shire?
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”. In UK usage, shire became synonymous with county, an administrative term introduced to England through the Norman Conquest, in A.D. 1066.
How many shires are in the UK?
The United Kingdom has 92 counties or shires. The British counties are the oldest extant national divisions in the world.
How many English counties are shires?
There are 2 types of Non-Metropolitan Counties as Shire Counties and Unitary Authorities. With a non-official definition of the Shire, there are a total of 28 Shire County in the UK.
What is the richest county in England?
Surrey
Table
| Rank | County | Total GVA |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greater London | £364.310 billion |
| 2 | Surrey | £60.001 billion |
| 3 | Greater Manchester | £57.395 billion |
| 4 | West Midlands | £55.544 billion |
What is the poshest county in England?
Surrey has been named as the ‘poshest’ home county in England in a new survey.
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 |
Who divided England into shires?
The whole kingdom was divided into shires by the time of the Norman conquest. Robert of Gloucester accounts for thirty-five shires and William of Malmesbury thirty-two, Henry of Huntingdon, thirty-seven.
Is Middlesex a county?
Middlesex (/ˈmɪdəlsɛks/; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbouring ceremonial counties.
What is the biggest shire in England?
Yorkshire
List of counties of England by area in 1831
| Rank | County | Area |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yorkshire | 3,669,510 acres (14,850.0 km2) |
| 2 | Lincolnshire | 1,663,850 acres (6,733.4 km2) |
| 3 | Devon | 1,636,450 acres (6,622.5 km2) |
| 4 | Norfolk | 1,292,300 acres (5,230 km2) |
What is 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. As a adjective county. is characteristic of a ‘county family’; representative of the gentry or aristocracy of a county.
What is the definition of Shire?
Shire is defined as very rural parts of England or to counties in England. An area in the rural midlands of England is an example of a shire. YourDictionary definition and usage example.
How many shires in England?
There are 23 shires in England. The first shires were created by the Anglo-Saxons in what is now central and southern England.
What is a shire in The Hobbit?
The Shire is a region of J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional Middle-earth, described in The Lord of the Rings and other works. The Shire refers to an area settled exclusively by Hobbits and largely removed from the goings-on in the rest of Middle-earth.