Rainford is a village and civil parish within Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. It is around 5 miles (8.0 km) north of St Helens. At the 2001 Census the population of the civil parish was 8,344.Historically a part of Lancashire, it is unknown when Rainford was founded, but the earliest record of the village is dated 1189. Rainford formerly constituted an urban district.