Barrington is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in Strafford County,

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, United States. The population was 9,326 at the 2020 census, up from 8,576 at the 2010 census.United States Census Bureau
U.S. Census website
2010 Census figures. Retrieved March 23, 2011. The town is a woodland, farm and

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

History

Barrington was incorporated in 1722 and named for

Samuel Shute Samuel Shute (January 12, 1662 – April 15, 1742) was an English military officer and royal governor of the provinces of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. After serving in the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession, he was appo ...

of Barrington Hall, colonial governor of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

and New Hampshire. His brother was John Shute Barrington, 1st Viscount Barrington. The town was made up of two grants, the first containing all of Strafford and present-day Barrington except for a parcel wide called New Portsmouth, or the Two Mile Streak. This second grant had been set aside to provide fuel and home sites for imported workers at the Lamprey River Iron Works, chartered in 1719 by the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court, formally the General Court of Massachusetts, is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts located in the state capital of Boston. Th ...

to encourage industrial development in the province. Slow at first to be settled because of rocky soil, Barrington by 1810 had 3,564 residents, then the state's third largest town, its primary industry the

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron-making, iron, copper extraction, copper ...

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

. The

Isinglass River The Isinglass River is a river in Strafford County in southeastern New Hampshire, United States. It rises at Bow Lake in the town of Strafford, but is also fed through its tributaries by Ayer's, Nippo, Round and Long ponds in Barrington. The ...

, together with its tributaries, provided

water power Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kin ...

for

grist Grist is grain that has been separated from its chaff in preparation for grinding. It can also mean grain that has been ground at a gristmill. Its etymology derives from the verb ''grind.'' Grist can be ground into meal or flour, depending on h ...

fulling Fulling, also known as tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelt waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven cloth (particularly wool) to eliminate ( lanolin) oils, ...

and saw mills. In 1820, Strafford was set off from Barrington, reducing its land area by about half, because of lengthy travel required to attend town meetings. In 1882, the Reverend Alonzo Hall Quint wrote: :"Of those towns in the state whose scenery is somewhat quiet, one of the most beautiful is Barrington." Indeed, the town's attractive natural features, including rivers, brooks, waterfalls and not less than 14 ponds, are summarized by the name of a summit, Beauty Hill. Barrington is bisected by the Calef Highway (

New Hampshire Route 125 New Hampshire Route 125 is a north–south state highway in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, Rockingham, Strafford County, New Hampshire, Strafford and Carroll County, New Hampshire, Carroll counties in southeastern New Hampshire. The southern ...

), named for a state senator from the 1800s whose family also founded in 1869 a locally famous

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

that remains in operation.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which are land and are water, comprising 4.05% of the town. Barrington is drained by the

and Bellamy River. Swains Lake and Mendum's Pond are in the south. The highest point in town is an unnamed summit near its western border, measuring above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. The highest named summit is Bumfagging Hill, at . Barrington lies fully within the

Piscataqua River The Piscataqua River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Pskehtekwis'') is a tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cochecho River to the Atlant ...

(Coastal)

watershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...

. The commercial center of town is the village of East Barrington, centered on the junction of state routes 9 and

125 125 may refer to: *125 (number), a natural number *AD 125, a year in the 2nd century AD *125 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC *125 (dinghy), a two person intermediate sailing dinghy *125 (New Jersey bus), a New Jersey Transit bus route *125 Liberatr ...

Adjacent municipalities

* Rochester (northeast) *

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

(east) * Madbury (east) *

Lee Lee may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lee'' (2007 film), Tamil-language sports action film * ''Lee'' (2017 film), Kannada-language action film * ''Lee'' (2023 film), biographical drama about Lee Miller, American photojournalist * ''L ...

(southeast) *

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

(southwest) * Northwood (west) * Strafford (northwest)

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 7,475 people, 2,756 households, and 2,075 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 3,147 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 98.11%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.25%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.13% Native American, 0.41% Asian, 0.05%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.23% from other races, and 0.80% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.92% of the population. There were 2,756 households, out of which 38.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.6% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 6.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.7% were non-families. 16.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.07. In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.5% under the age of 18, 5.7% from 18 to 24, 35.1% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 7.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.7 males. The median income for a household in the town was $50,630, and the median income for a family was $56,136. Males had a median income of $39,098 versus $27,956 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $21,012. About 3.6% of families and 5.5% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 7.0% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

Education

Th
Barrington School District
serves town children from Pre-K through grade 8, at the Early Childhood Learning Center (ECLC), Barrington Elementary School and the Barrington Middle School. Students of high school age attend schools in neighboring communities, including Dover High School,

Coe-Brown Northwood Academy Coe-Brown Northwood Academy is a comprehensive secondary institution in Northwood, New Hampshire, United States. It serves all students from the towns of Strafford, Nottingham and Northwood. History Coe-Brown Northwood Academy was founded ...

, Oyster River High School or St. Thomas Aquinas High School.

Notable people

* John Buzzell (1766–1863), Free Will Baptist preacher, writer * Paul Frase (born 1965), American pro-football player (New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars, Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens), co-founder Joshua Frase Foundation * Frank Jones (1832–1902), brewer, hotelier, U.S. congressman * Jillian Wheeler (born 1991), singer, songwriter and actress

References

External links

*
Barrington Public Library

* ttps://www.barringtonchamber.org Greater Barrington Chamber of Commerce {{authority control Towns in Strafford County, New Hampshire Towns in New Hampshire