It is under the domain of the King, but he has placed special protection on it to keep others out. The Mayor is the leader of the Shire.
A Shire Reeve was a local government official, in charge of a shire or county (as in Lancashire, Yorkshire etc.) It is the derivation of the word sheriff.
Person in charge of equestrian sports
The shire horse is named a shire horse because it originated in the shire counties of England.
Matthew Shire's birth name is Matthew Orlando Shire.
The hobbits lived in the peaceful Shire, surrounded by rolling green hills and cozy hobbit-holes.
The Shire is a draft breed.
He lived in a small shire in the countryside.
'Shire Reckoning' as it was called was adopted and the Shire usage of counting as Year 1 the year of the colonization of the Shire.
Tolkien borrowed the word from Old English, where its meaning was roughly the same as the modern english word county or the french word parish refering to a smaller part of a state or country that has its own local government.
Shire of Douglas was created in 1880.
Shire of Livingstone was created in 1879.
Shire of Albany ended in 1998.