Rainford is a village in the north west of England, just north of the town of St. Helens in Merseyside. It has a population of approx. 10,000. No-one really knows how old Rainford is, but the name of the village is in the Domesday book, thus making Rainford older than the important maritime city of Liverpool.
It is well known for its industrial past when it was a major manufacturer of clay smoking pipes. It was also a location for sand mining, for use in the glass factories of St. Helens. It sits alongside the A570 (Rainford Bypass), a dual carriageway connected at one end to the East Lancashire Road (A580) and, at the other end, the M58 meaning that it has great road links, and as such is mainly inhabited by people who commute to the nearby cities of Liverpool and Manchester.
