Rainow is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England, in the valley of the

River Dean The River Dean rises at Longclough in Macclesfield Forest on the western edge of the Peak District foothills above the village of Rainow in north east Cheshire, England. Together with a number of tributary streams it is impounded by the dam at L ...

and next to the

B5470 road The B5470 is a road in England, running from Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, to Macclesfield, Cheshire, via Whaley Bridge. The hilly and winding section between Whaley Bridge and Macclesfield is often called 'The Highwayman' after a prominent ...

between

Macclesfield Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...

and

Kettleshulme Kettleshulme (Old Norse ''Ketil's island'' or ''Ketil's watermeadow'') is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. The village is close to the border with Derbyshire, on the B5470 road from Whaley Bridge to Macclesfield in the valley o ...

. It straddles the eastern side of the

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...

border of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

and Cheshire, and is surrounded by pasture farmland. The

Peak District Boundary Walk The Peak District Boundary Walk is a circular walking trail, starting and finishing at Buxton and broadly following the boundary of the Peak District, Britain's first national park. The route was developed by the Friends of the Peak District (a ...

runs past the village. The village's name comes from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''hræfn'' + ''hōh'', meaning "hill-spur frequented by ravens". It is a former coal-mining village and has a population of around 2,500.Rainow Ward Profile - 2001 Census
To the east of the village is

Lamaload Reservoir Lamaload Reservoir is a reservoir near Rainow, Cheshire, England (). It lies in the South West Peak within the Peak District National Park, to the west of the Goyt Valley, and is fed by the River Dean. It serves Macclesfield, which lies to its wes ...

, the first concrete reservoir constructed in England, between 1958 and 1964. At , it is also the highest constructed dam in England.Revisiting Lamaload, 41 years on. ''Blueprint: the News Magazine of Costain Group'' 26 (Spring 2004)

White Nancy White Nancy is a structure at the top of Kerridge Hill, overlooking Bollington, Cheshire, England. Since 1966 it has been recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. Its profile forms the log ...

, a circular, white-painted stone structure constructed to celebrate the anniversary of the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

, stands at the northern end of

Kerridge Hill Kerridge Hill (also called Kerridge Ridge) is a hill in Cheshire, near the hamlet of Kerridge on the outskirts of Bollington. The summit is above sea level. The River Dean runs along the eastern foot of the hill. White Nancy is a prominent lan ...

on the boundary between the parishes of Rainow and

Bollington Bollington is a town and civil parish in Cheshire, England, to the east of Prestbury. In the Middle Ages, it was part of the Earl of Chester's manor of Macclesfield and the ancient parish of Prestbury. In 2011, it had a population of 8,310. B ...

School

Rainow Primary School has 175 pupils, covering Reception through to Year 6.

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church was built in 1846 at a cost of £1,800 by John Mellor of Kerridge End on land donated by Joseph Harding. The architect was Samuel Howard of Disley. In 1958, the present vicarage was built adjoining the church.

Jenkin Chapel

Jenkin Chapel was constructed of local gritstone in 1733. It has an external flight of steps leading to a gallery (a small tower with a

saddleback roof A saddleback roof is usually on a tower, with a ridge and two sloping sides, producing a gable at each end. See also * List of roof shapes * Saddle roof A saddle roof is a roof form which follows a convex curve about one axis and a concave cur ...

was added in 1754–55). Originally dedicated to St. John the Baptist, it was consecrated in 1894 and re-dedicated to St. John the Evangelist. File:Lamaload.jpg,

File:White Nancy.jpg, White Nancy File:Rainow Church.JPG, Holy Trinity Church File:Jenkin Chapel Cheshire.jpg, Jenkin Chapel

Cultural events

Rainow has an annual Church Fête with tea marquee,

tug of war Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport that pits two teams against each other in a test of strength: teams pull on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal being to bring the rope a certa ...

, and a fell race across Kerridge Hill that overlooks the village. The fête is also associated with a two-week display of 'scarecrows' throughout the village. An annual 5-mile race called The Rainow Five leads from the institute, up Kerridge then back down; it attracts many local runners, as well as the occasional celebrity such as

Tony Audenshaw Antony Audenshaw (born 6 September 1964) is an English actor and singer. Audenshaw appeared in the Channel 4 soap opera '' Brookside'' from 1994 to 1996). Then in 2000, he began portraying the role of Bob Hope on the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale' ...

from the ITV soap ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...

''.

Notable residents

Notable residents of the village are Stephen Morris and

Gillian Gilbert Gillian Lesley Gilbert (born 27 January 1961) is an English musician and singer, best known as the keyboardist and guitarist of the band New Order. Early life Gilbert's family moved from her birthplace, Manchester, to the nearby market town of ...

, members of the bands

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...

, New Order and

The Other Two ''The Other Two'' is an American comedy television series created by Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider. The story follows two floundering millennial siblings who must grapple with their 13-year-old brother's overnight fame. The series premiered ...

. Both grew up in nearby

The Stone Roses The Stone Roses were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. One of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist I ...

guitarist John Squire also lives in the village. Previous residents include the late

Brian Redhead Brian Leonard Redhead (28 December 1929 – 23 January 1994) was a British author, journalist and broadcaster. He was a co-presenter of the Today (BBC Radio 4), ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4 from 1975 until 1993, shortly before his death. ...

(journalist, author and broadcaster),

Bill Turnbull William Robert Jolyon Turnbull (25 January 1956 – 31 August 2022) was an English television and radio presenter and journalist, whose broadcasting career spanned over four decades. He began his career working for radio stations including Rad ...

(BBC journalist and presenter, resident 2012–16), and former Chancellor of the Exchequer

George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born Gideon Oliver Osborne; 23 May 1971) is a former British politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the ...

References

External links

Rainow website

Entry in Kelly's Directory of Cheshire, 1902

{{authority control Villages in Cheshire Civil parishes in Cheshire Towns and villages of the Peak District