Rainhill

Rainhill
Rainhill village centre.
Population	11,913
OS grid reference	SJ494912
• London	173 mi (278 km) SE
Metropolitan borough	St Helens
Metropolitan county	Merseyside
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	PRESCOT
Postcode district	L35
Dialling code	0151
Police	Merseyside
Fire	Merseyside
Ambulance	North West
UK Parliament	St Helens South

Rainhill is a civil parish and large village in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England, however it is often classified as being attached to nearby Prescot. It lies 2.0 miles (3.2 km) east of Prescot, 2.9 miles (4.7 km) south-southwest of St Helens, 4.0 miles (6.4 km) north-northwest of Widnes and 9.3 miles (15.0 km) east of the city of Liverpool.

Historically a part of Lancashire, Rainhill was formerly a part of the ecclesiastical parish of Prescot, then part of the Whiston Rural District.

History

Beginnings

The history of Rainhill has been recorded since Norman times but its name is believed to come from the Old English personal name of Regna or Regan. Recordings have shown that in the year of 1246, Roger of Rainhill died and the township was divided into two halves for each of his daughters. One half was centred on the now standing Rainhill Manor Public House and the other centred on Rainhill Hall, just off Blundell's lane.

Towards the end of the 18th century, four Catholic sons of a farmer, who came from the area around Stonyhurst, decided to seek their fortunes in Liverpool. The names of the brothers were Joseph, Francis, Peter and Bartholomew Bretherton. In 1800, Bartholomew decided to break into the coaching business. The partnership that he had with one or two of his brothers quickly built up and by 1820, he had the bulk of the coaching trade of Liverpool. He was running Coaches to and from Manchester fourteen times a day from Saracen's Head in Dale Street, Liverpool. Bartholomew chose Rainhill as his first stage and he developed facilities on the Land alongside the Ship Inn (Originally the New Inn by Henry Parr 1780)and on this site he was believed to be stabling at least 240 horses, coach horses, farriers, coach builders, veterinaries etc.

Bartholomew had begun to purchase land in Rainhill, and in 1824, he bought the Manor of Rainhill from Dr James Gerrard of Liverpool. By 1830, he owned over 260 acres around Rainhill. In 1824, across the road from the stables, he built Rainhill House and laid out beautiful gardens around it. Today, this house is known as Loyola Hall, and has served as a retreat run by the Society of Jesus since 1923.

Rainhill Trials

The preserved Rocket

Rainhill was the site of the 1829 Rainhill Trials, in which a number of railway locomotives were entered in a competition to decide a suitable design for use on the new Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The winner was The Rocket, designed by George Stephenson. In 1979 the 150th anniversary of the trials was celebrated by a cavalcade of trains through the ages, including replicas of the winner and runner-up in the trials.

Victorian murders

Rainhill was also the location of a notorious Victorian mass murderer; Frederick Bailey Deeming. In March 1892, the bodies of a woman and her four children were discovered buried under the concrete floor of Dinham Villa, Lawton Road, Rainhill.

The series of events that led to this gruesome discovery began with a marriage in St. Ann's Church, Rainhill. Miss Emily Mather married Frederick Bailey Deeming, an officer in the Army. The couple emigrated to Australia, where Deeming murdered his wife and buried her under the floor of their kitchen. Australian police contacted Scotland Yard and as a result of information passed onto them, made a search of Dinham Villa, home of Deeming's supposed sister and her four children. Marie Deeming, however, was his first wife. Her throat had been cut, as had the throats of three of the children. The fourth was strangled.

Deeming was convicted of the murder of Emily Mather and hanged in Australia. After being up for sale and attracting no interested buyers, Dinham Villa in Rainhill was demolished. Small bungaloes are now in place of it. The Rainhill victims were interred in the graveyard of St. Ann's Church. Sadly, the headstone marking their grave was stolen and the grave has since remained unmarked.

Modern Rainhill

Rainhill is now primarily a commuter town, mainly for workers in Liverpool but also St Helens and Widnes. Housing is mostly detached or semi-detached and is a mixture of modern and Victorian development. It is home to several sporting clubs including Rainhill Town AFC and Rainhill Cricket Club. Mohammed Ashraful, the Bangladesh National Cricket Team captain made several appearances for the Club in 2006.

Places of interest

Skew Bridge as seen today.

A feature of the village is the George Stephenson "Skew Bridge", of sandstone construction, that takes the main road over the railway. It takes its name from the unusual diagonal angle at which the railway passes under the bridge. It is the world's first bridge to go over a railway at an angle. The bridge was later widened to accommodate increases in road traffic. The milestone on the bridge that informs travellers of the distances to Warrington, Prescot and Liverpool was moved to the opposite side at the time of the expansion. Therefore, the distance markers pointed to the wrong destinations. This quirk was corrected in 2005 when the milestone was returned to the correct side of the bridge.

The railway still runs through Rainhill. There is a station with frequent services to Liverpool, Manchester and Warrington. Rainhill has four churches: St Ann's, St Bartholomew's and St James' – which are Church of England, Roman Catholic and Methodist, respectively – and an evangelical church. There are several primary schools in Rainhill: Oakdene, Longton Lane, St Ann's, St Batholomew's and Tower College. Secondary Education is provided by Rainhill High School Media Arts College and the Christian independent public school and Tower College, which also accepts students between 3 and 16.

Medicine

Rainhill has several medical centres but the largest and most notable is Scott Clinic which once treated Michael Abram after he was convicted of stabbing the late Beatles member George Harrison. Rainhill was also home to what was at one time the largest mental health asylum in the world – Rainhill Asylum – which, in December 1911, housed 1,990 patients. This was demolished in 1991. Its former site is now a housing estate as well as accommodating Reeve Court, an extra-care housing project for older people.

Nightlife and pubs

Rainhill contains ten pubs and social clubs: The Manor Farm, The Ship Inn, Rainhill Ex-Services Club,The Victoria, The Commercial, The Labour Club, The Rocket, The Coach Bar , The Holt Hotel and The Black Horse, most of which have some aspect of the history of the area attached to them. For example, the Ship Inn is an old waiting post where people used to change horses on their journeys to Liverpool and The Manor Farm is one of the oldest buildings in Rainhill and appears in the Domesday Book (although the site dates back to Roman times).

Notable people

• Frank Cottrell Boyce brought up in Rainhill.
• Ian Nolan former Tranmere Rovers footballer lives in Rainhill.
• Melanie Chisholm Sporty Spice was born in Whiston, Merseyside and grew up in Rainhill before moving to Widnes.

External links

• Liverpool Street Gallery - Liverpool 35
• Rainhill Civic Society
• Tower College
• Rainhill Gala
• Rainhill Ex-Services Club