The Parish of Rainford in the County of -- Lancashire --

	All Saints, Rainford

Rainford is a township in the Diocese of Liverpool, West Derby Hundred.

This is a large township, having an area of 5,872½ acres, (fn. 1) embracing open country, flat on the north and west and undulating on the south-east. The highest ground, rising to 300 ft. above sea level, is near the village of Crank, a bare exposed spot. In the northern portion of the district there are coal mines; the remainder is agricultural, the principal crops raised being potatoes, oats, wheat, and clover. The soil is clayey. The Sankey or Rainford Brook flows through the whole length of the township from north-west to south-east, on its way towards the Mersey. The geological formation consists mainly of the coal measures, but from Rainford village to the chase in Knowsley Park there is a belt three-quarters of a mile in width of the lower mottled sandstone of the bunter series (new red sandstone), and the pebble beds of the same series are just touched at Kirkby Moss. Formerly the land can have been of comparatively little value, the large area of moss being shown by such names as Reeds Moss, Rainford Moss, and Mossborough; occasional patches of unreclaimed mossland are still met with. About 1720 the northern half was called Chapel end, and the southern, Haysarm end. The village of Rainford is in the former, and the hamlet of Crank in the latter. Rainford Hall (Col. Pilkington, J.P.) is a large modern house on an old site, east of the village.

The principal road is that from St. Helens to Ormskirk; it runs alongside the brook, which it crosses before reaching the village. Here it is joined by another road coming from Prescot in the southwest. The London and North-Western Company's line from St. Helens to Ormskirk also runs parallel to the brook, with stations at Crank, Rookery, and Rainford. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's line from Liverpool to Manchester crosses the northern end of the township, and where it passes under the other railway is a station called Rainford Junction.

The population in 1901 numbered 3,359

From: 'Townships: Rainford', A History of the County of Lancashire: Volume 3 (1907), pp. 382-86.

The current population is about 9,000 and Rainford can be accessed from the A570, which runs from St. Helens to Ormskirk.

Rainford Parish Church is dedicated as All Saints and the present building dates from 1878, although that building replaced an earlier simpler one dating back through many modifications and repairs to the mid 16th century.

This website is dedicated to the parish of Rainford and to help genealogists learn about the parish and determine what information and resources they can obtain.