Wm Fordyce “History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham” Vol 2 notes that the village is “principally occupied by persons engaged in the collieries”.

Of these only Front street , was paved (3) The census at various times notes a variety of shops and 4 pubs Fox and Hounds, Rose and Crown, Hope and Anchor and Foresters Arms .

In 1843 the Black American female Evangelist Zilpha Elaw claimed she preached to a large crowd at Middle Rainton in September 1843 one might assume that either this was an outdoor meeting or was held in the Chapel.

In 1899 the Local Medical Officer of Health stated “The sanitary condition of the village of Middle Rainton is reported to be getting worse, Houses are becoming uninhabitable and falling into ruins, and the tenants are so poor that it does not pay the owners to keep them in repair.

The open channels at the Freehold, though repaired, are not satisfactory, for “ at the lower “ ends there are frequent accumulations which choke “ up the sinks and cause overflows near the houses “ there.” The scavenging is not satisfactorily performed, and some of the ashpits are reported to be never quite emptied”.

In 1925 the Local Medical Officer of Health noted “At Middle Rainton too, nothing appears to have been done with the exception of conversion of the coal house into a closet for the teachers.

I understand that the Educational Authorities contemplate building a new school in the near future to replace the present ones, and this will obviate the necessity of extensive alterations and renewals to structures which are too antique to meet modern requirements” (10) .

The inhabitants of some villages successfully fought this and are today thriving communities but others accepted the inevitability of their fate and this appears to have been the case with Middle Rainton.

In 2022 members of an environmental group in West Rainton were granted permission by the County Council to use part of the site to establish a Community Orchard.

Funds were raised by the group members and from Northumbria Water and the County Durham Community Foundation, 25 trees including apples, pears , damsons cherries , plums were planted .