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Question
#65235. fr8king2006
asks:
What is there about 11 counties in England that end in 'shire'?
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zbeckabee
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Lancashire
North Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
Cheshire
Derbyshire
Nottinghamshire
Lincolnshire
Leicestershire
Staffordshire
Shropshire
Herefordshire
Worcestershire
Warwickshire
Northamptonshire
Cambridgeshire
Hertfordshire
Bedfordshire
Buckinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Gloucestershire
Wiltshire
Berkshire
Hampshire
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:EnglandCountiesCere.png
May 01 06, 5:09 PM
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zbeckabee
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A shire county or non-metropolitan county in England, is a county level entity which is not a metropolitan county. The names of most, but not all, shire counties end in the suffix "-shire"; for example, Kent is a shire county. The counties typically have populations of 109,000 to 1.4 million.
The term is sometimes used in a restricted sense to refer only to the administrative counties that have a two-tier structure, of a county council and district councils. It therefore excludes the various unitary districts, including Herefordshire and Rutland. The Isle of Wight is a non-metropolitan county, but is also a unitary area, as its district councils have been abolished.
The term "shire county" is actually a tautology, the word county coming from French and shire from Saxon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shire_county
Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex, Wiltshire, Worcestershire
May 01 06, 5:12 PM
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bloomsby
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Moreover, '-shire' is sometimes added, optionally, to Devon and Dorset. In general, those counties ending in '-shire' are named after the present or former county capital.
In a few cases the link may be obscure. Shropshire is named after Shrewsbury; Lancashire after Lancaster (though the county capital has been Preston for a very long time); Hampshire is named after Southampton though the country capital is (and has always (?) been) Winchester. It is said that Wiltshire is named after Wilton, to the west of Salisbury (the county capital), and though Buckingham is in Buckinghamshire the country capital is Aylesbury - of roasted duckling fame.
May 01 06, 7:47 PM
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