Formed January 1, 1769 (4th county)
Rockingham County (314,182), Brentwood* (4,490), Portsmouth (21,957)
A Modern red brick courthouse was built in 1997. It is at Water and Front streets. Water Street is New Hampshire State Highway 27. Bowell, White, Arnold and Hemberger Partners are the architects. There were 1893 and 1966 versions earlier in Exeter. There are augmenting courthouses in Candia (2008), Derry (1997), Plaistow, Portsmouth (1981), Salem (1982), and Seabrook. Rockingham County is an original county (4th county) established on January 1, 1769. Exeter was the county seat until 1997 when Brentwood assumed the position. The county is named for the Second Marquess of Rockingham. The county seat is named for Brentwood, England. Rockingham County was the birthplace for 16 New Hampshire Governors, Meschech Weare, John Langdon, John T. Gilman, Samuel Bell, David L. Morril, John Bell, Samuel Dinsmoor, Frederick Smyth, Benjamin F. Prescott, Charles H. Bell, Nahum J. Bachelder, Charles M. Floyd, Albert O. Brown, Wesley Powell, Stephen E. Merrell, and Christopher T. Sununu.
Rockingham County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, an attorney, and a clerk (executive). It has 3 Commissioners and 23 Delegates (legislative.) Nine Circuit Court Judges serve Rockingham County (judicial.) The county is in the southeast corner of the state. Manchester, New Hampshire is directly west and Portland, Maine is northeast of the county. The county borders Maine and Massachusetts. The county center is 1.8 miles Northeast of Brentwood. The county is surrounded clockwise by Strafford County and Maine, the Atlantic Ocean, and Massachusetts and Hillsborough and Merrimack counties.
The area of the county is 695 square miles. It is 7 out of 10 in the state. It ranks 2 out of 10 in population in the state. It has a density of 452.1 persons per square mile making it 2 out of 10 in the state. Rockingham County has 7.0% of its population in its incorporated areas. Interstate Highway 93 cuts the southwest corner of the county from Hillsborough County, west, to Massachusetts, south. Interstate Highway 95 goes north to south from Maine to Massachusetts. United States Highway 1 parallels Interstate Highway 95 from Maine to Massachusetts. United States Highway 4 originates and heads west to Merrimack County. United States Highway 202 enters from Strafford County, north, and joins United States Highway 4 into Merrimack County, west. Rockingham County is shaped like a check mark. Brentwood is near the center of the county. Portsmouth is on the eastern coast bordering Maine. Brentwood is the county seat and Portsmouth is the only incorporated city, thus it is the largest city. Brentwood is 1.4% of the county population although it is unincorporated. Portsmouth is 7.0% of the county population. This county is in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Portsmouth
Brentwood (unincorporated)
