St Mary’s Convent School, Rainhill
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History
Skew Bridge
In 1824, George Stephenson was appointed as Principal Engineer for the proposed new railway line to be built from Liverpool to Manchester. It was considered impossible to divert the existing turnpike road or to realign the route of the railway at the crossing point, so a bridge had to be constructed over the railway line
Site of the Rainhill Trials
The famous Rainhill Trials took place along a level stretch of railway line 1 mile and 7 furlongs long, east of the Skew Bridge. A prize of £500 was offered to the successful locomotive completing a total run of 70 miles (the distance from Liverpool to Manchester and back) which entailed forty trips along the
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Rainhill Wartime Hospitals: Oaklands
Oaklands was a large property situated in St. James Road and built by local business man Joseph Owen in 1851. Prior to the Great War (c.1911 to c.1914) it was owned by the Gamble family but occupied by the Taylor family. Pictured below: Oaklands pre 1914 when occupied by the Taylor family (courtesy of Sheila
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Rainhill Wartime Hospitals: Oakdene
Oakdene Hospital – West Lancashire V.A.D. 40 Oakdene was a large private house in Lawton Road, built in 1851 on land purchased from the Owen family. In 1899 it was sold by the Swift family to Henry Gamble (1868-1927), who was the youngest son and 11th child of Sir David Gamble. Henry Gamble and his
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St Ann’s Church
Until the beginning of the 19th century, members of the Church of England who lived in Rainhill had to travel to Prescot of Farnsworth to attend services. In 1836, the vicar of Prescot, the Reverend C.G.T. Driffield initiated an appeal for funds to build a chapel in Rainhill. The first church, consecrated in 1839, was
St Bartholomew’s Church
When Bartholomew Bretherton came to live in Rainhill opposite the Ship lnn he prospered from his coaching business and he decided to build a church in a prominent position near to his estate. The impressive design was based on the Church of ‘Santa Bartolomeo’ in Rome. The foundation stone was laid by his daughter, Mrs
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Kendrick’s Cross
The name Kendricks Cross (without the apostrophe) was the original name for this area which is now Rainhill village. The Kendrick (Kenwrick) family owned land in the area in the 17th century. It is marked on 19th century maps as the cross-roads where two highways passed through Rainhill – one from Prescot to Warrington and the other
Briar’s Hey
Briars Hey was a mansion built in 1868 for chemical manufacturer John Crossley. It is now a Grade II Listed Building on the Historic England website. In 1938 it was acquired by The Sisters of The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and became a convalescent home for children with heart problems. It was later known as
Bourne’s Tunnel
Bourne’s Tunnel built in the late 1820’s, is 104 feet long and goes under the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Line, the earliest locomotive passenger line in the world, near to Rainhill village. The tunnel was given Grade II listed status in 2010 for both architectural and historical reasons, due to its angled design and attention
