Rainow is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

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 coun ...

, England, in the valley of the River Dean and next to the B5470 road 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 e ...

and Kettleshulme. 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, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorl ...

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 no ...

and Cheshire, and is surrounded by pasture farmland. The Peak District Boundary Walk runs past the village. The village's name comes from the Old English ''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, 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, 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 (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 armies of the Seventh C ...

, stands at the northern end of Kerridge Hill 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. ...

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 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, Lamaload Reservoir 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, 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 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 Laffa ...

''.

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 att ...

, New Order and The Other Two. Both grew up in nearby

. The Stone Roses guitarist

John Squire Jonathan Thomas "John" Squire (born 24 November 1962)Larkin, Colin (ed.) (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books, is an English musician, songwriter and painter. He was the guitarist for The Stone Roses, a rock ba ...

also lives in the village. Previous residents include the late Brian Redhead (journalist, author and broadcaster), Bill Turnbull (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