Rainford, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapel History
RAINFORD, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Prescot, hundred of West Derby, S. division of Lancashire, 4½ miles (N. N. W.) from St. Helen's; containing 1855 inhabitants. At a very early period this place was vested in the Lathoms, of whom Isabella de Lathom married Sir John Stanley, who thus acquired the estate. Rainford afterwards became the property of the family of Molyneux, of Hawkley, but by what means does not appear; and this family inhabited the manorhouse until Mossborough Hall and manor were sold by Mrs. Molyneux to the Stanleys, in the last century. The Earl of Derby is now the principal proprietor. The chapelry comprises 5803 acres, of which 1500 are uninclosed. The surface is undulated, the soil chiefly clay and light bog, and beneath are found coal, fire-clay, and sand suitable for making glass: a large tract of moss has been reclaimed, and much improved by draining. About 50 persons are employed in making pipes, the clay for which is procured from Devonshire. The Liverpool and Bolton railway passes through. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £135, with a house; patron, the Vicar of Prescot, whose tithes here have been commuted for £350: the impropriate tithes, payable to King's College, Cambridge, have been commuted for £320. The chapel, dedicated to All Saints, is mentioned in an episcopal order, in 1634; it has been twice rebuilt, in 1758 and 1781. A place of worship here for Independents has an endowment of £35 per annum, from land; and a school is endowed with £16 per annum.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 630-633. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51229 Date accessed: 20 July 2010.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Lancashire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
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Web sites
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