shire

Shire is a historical term for a county or administrative division in England, dating to the early medieval period. It derives from the Old English scir, meaning a division, district, or boundary. A shire was typically governed by a sheriff, originally the shire-reeve, and administered by local courts. The concept shaped the structure of English governance and gave rise to many county names ending in -shire, such as Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Cambridgeshire. In broad usage, the term “the Shires” is sometimes used to refer collectively to England’s historic rural counties.

In modern government, shires survive as ceremonial or administrative counties in parts of England, though many borders and institutions have changed over time. The -shire suffix remains a common element of county names, and the term persists in cultural and historical contexts as a shorthand for rural English landscapes and governance traditions.

In literature, Shire is the fictional homeland of Hobbits in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. Located in the northwest of the continent of Middle-earth, it is depicted as an agrarian, relatively insular society. The Shire is divided into four Farthings—North, South, East, and West—and its governance is led by a Thain, with a Mayor serving as chief civil administrator in later periods. Law and order are maintained by the Shirriffs, and the region centers on towns such as Michel Delving and Hobbiton. The Shire appears prominently in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, symbolizing a peaceful, traditional homeland.