Rainford
| Rainford | |
| Lancashire | |
|---|---|
 Rainford | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SD481009 |
| Location: | 53°30’11"N, 2°46’59"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 8,344 (2001) |
| Post town: | St. Helens |
| Postcode: | WA11 |
| Dialling code: | 01744 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | St Helens |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
St Helens North |
| Website: | http://www.rainfordparishcouncil.com/ |
Rainford is a village in southern Lancashire, lying 5 miles north of St Helens, Lancashire. At the 2001 Census the population of the civil parish was 8,344.
Rainford lies on a fertile agricultural plain and is effectively an urban island surrounded by large scale farming, mainly arable, but with some livestock herds.
The village consists of two main sections - the main body of the village, centred around the parish church; and Rainford Junction, a smaller settlement which has grown up around Rainford railway station. The two parts of the village are separated by a band of farmland, although they come close to meeting at the village's north-western end.
There are three smaller villages which are near to Rainford; King's Moss to the east, Crawford to the north-east and Crank to the south-east.
One of the noteworthy buildings in Rainford is The Rookery, a large 17th century manor house situated off the 'Pottery Padds'; the house was formerly a school and workhouse and has since become home to a tenant.
History
Rainford's origin is unknown. It is not listed in the Domesday Book and largely escaped the notice of history until the modern era.
Rainford is well known for its industrial past when it was a major manufacturer of clay smoking pipes. It was formerly too a mining village, but the nearby coal mines became worked out and closed before the Second World War.
Until the mid 1960s, Rainford was a location for sand excavation, for use in the glass factories of St Helens.
From the mid 17th century, Rainford was a centre of clay pipe manufacture. CJ Berry speculates that this may have been due to the prevalence of Roman Catholics in the industry, left unhindered in southern Lancashire where elsewhere they might not have been. The type of clay used was only generally found in Devon and Cornwall, and was thus imported. The industry in the area peaked during the period around 1800-40, in which there was little else in the village beside the clay pipe industry. Whilst other towns in the area made pipes, the industry in Rainford started earlier and continued longer.
The last two pipe manufacturers retired in 1956. The clay industry continued in the area thereafter, though, with the Rainford Potteries (established 1890) making earthenware drainpipes from local clay.[1]
Transport
Rainford is well conncetd by road and rail. The station, Rainford Junction, is so called because it contained the junction between the Liverpool and Bury Railway's Skelmersdale Branch and St Helens Railway, and is now home to the village's only railway station. The station is on the Kirkby - Wigan line. Rainford Village railway station, located on Crosspit Lane, served the centre of the village from 1858 until 1951. It was on the line to St. Helens's Shaw Street station.
Rainford sits just north of the A580 East Lancashire Road and close to the M58 motorway. It stands beside the A570 (Rainford Bypass), a dual carriageway constructed in the late 1930s to supplant the original route running through the village centre. The village is therefore mainly inhabited by people who commute to the nearby cities of Liverpool and Manchester, and to St Helens.
Churches
The village has four churches of four denominations:
- Church of England: All Saints
- Methodist
- United Reformed Church
- Roman Catholic: Corpus Christi
There is also a nondenominational chapel in nearby Crank.
The area has a history of Protestant nonconformism, but was also a stronghold of Roman Catholic recusancy.[2]