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UK Broadcast Transmission |
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THE TRANSMISSION GALLERY
RAINFORD
| Photos by Ringway Manchester | Page last updated: 2026-08-16 |
| I can't provide more in terms of imagery than Dan Glover and Gwylym Jones but I've got some additional material and more on the story of Rainford. I've uploaded this in the hope that it'll jog someone's memory and they'll dig out some photos of this elusive site. |
| Why do no photographs of Rainford transmitter exist? I’ve searched high and low, asked dozens of people, and nobody’s seen it. It sat to the south of this old Royal Ordnance Factory Ammunition Holding Depot for nearby ROF Kirkby, originally run by the Ministry of Supply. Today the site has found a new use as storage and other small businesses. The transmitter on the other hand has long gone without trace. You’d never know it was here except for a single clue. The much newer EE/3 mobile phone tower is aptly named Radio City Rainford. |
| Rainford was a 3-tower medium wave site built by the IBA for one of the many Independent Local Radio stations popping up all over the place in the 1970’s. The station that served the Merseyside area including the all-important Liverpool was 194 Radio City which launched at 6am on 21st October 1974 on 1546 kHz. It’s VHF counterpart entered service on 8th February 1975 from the BBC transmitter site at Allerton Park, much later than the planned date of December 1974. |
| There were three phased masts here at Rainford which may have been phased to form a lobe out to the south to cover Liverpool. I’d guess it was an end fire array that fired south west. I’ve marked the exact location of the three masts but nothing remains. No concrete bases, no mast stay bases… nothing. Interestingly, when planning started in 1972, Rainford was initially going to consist of 4 masts, much like Langley Mill for example. In fact, it would have looked identical to this. They would have each been 170ft tall with brick huts at their bases to house transmitting equipment. |
| Rainford had a pretty unremarkable life. Despite being the most powerful transmitter to be used by commercial radio in the country at the time at 5kw, it never performed particularly well. It was supposed to serve two million people but it gave poorer than expected coverage across its planned coverage area and was eventually replaced by a new site over in Bebington that consisted of a single omnidirectional radiator. The date of the move isn’t clear. Sadly, it closed on 31st May 2020 and has also disappeared without trace. |
| There is very little information out there regarding this site and there are no photographs of Rainford in existence publicly. I’ve never covered a site which I’ve not been able to find at least one photograph of. Can you help? Do you have any photos? I don’t suppose anyone would have reason to take a photograph of it back in the 1970’s unless they were an enthusiast! |
| What’s interesting is that the cell site which came decades after Rainhill was demolished is called Radio City Rainhill. Who came up with that name? And why? |
Allerton Park | Bebington | Langley Mill (A)
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