In normal times, the Shirriffs of the Shire were few in number, and would wander the countryside lending their help where it was needed. Things changed when Lotho Sackville-Baggins took power in the Shire, appointing himself as Chief Shirriff. From that time the numbers of the Shirriffs expanded hugely, and the new troops were housed in buildings known as 'Shirriff-houses'.

These Shirriff-houses were evidently widespread throughout the Shire. Only one is described in detail: the house that lay in western Frogmorton and housed the First Eastfarthing Troop of the Shirriffs. That was a pale, single-storey building built from brick, and it seems that the other Shirriff-houses across the Shire were also brick-built.

After the overthrow of Sharkey and the liberation of the Shire, the Hobbits quickly turned against the Shirriff-houses. Within months, they had all been demolished, and the Shirriffs were returned to the more pastoral duties they had followed for centuries before the War of the Ring.