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Mow Cop
Mow Cop Castle
Mow Cop Location within Cheshire
OS grid reference	SJ855573
Civil parish	Odd Rode Kidsgrove
District	Newcastle-under-Lyme
Unitary authority	Cheshire East
Shire county	Staffordshire
Ceremonial county	Cheshire
Region	North West West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	STOKE-ON-TRENT
Postcode district	ST7
Dialling code	01782
Police	Cheshire
	Staffordshire
Fire	Cheshire
	Staffordshire
Ambulance	North West
	West Midlands
EU Parliament	North West England West Midlands
UK Parliament	Congleton Staffordshire Moorlands
List of places UK England Cheshire 53°06′47″N 2°13′03″W / 53.112973°N 2.217582°W / 53.112973; -2.217582Coordinates: 53°06′47″N 2°13′03″W / 53.112973°N 2.217582°W / 53.112973; -2.217582

Mow Cop /ˈmaʊˈkɒp/ is a village on the Cheshire–Staffordshire border, divided between the North West and West Midlands regions of England. It is 24 miles (39 km) south of Manchester and 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Stoke-on-Trent, on a steep hill of the same name rising up to 335 metres (1,099 ft) above sea level.^[1] The village is among the westernmost hills of the Staffordshire Moorlands, with the Cheshire Plain directly to the west. For population details taken at the 2011 census, see Kidsgrove.

The name is first recorded as Mowel around 1270 AD, and is believed to derive from either the Anglo-Saxon Mūga-hyll, meaning "heap-hill", with copp = "head" added later, or the Common Celtic ancestor of Welsh moel (= hill), with Anglo-Saxon copp added later.^[2]

At the village's summit, men once quarried stone to make into querns, used since the Iron Age for milling corn; this trade ended during the Victorian period. The village also has a long history of coal mining. A 65-foot (20 m) rock feature called the Old Man O'Mow in one of the quarried areas is believed to be the site of an ancient cairn. The most dominant feature of the village is Mow Cop Castle, a folly of a ruined castle at the summit of the hill, built in 1754. Both Mow Cop and Old Man O'Mow are under the management of the National Trust and on the route of the Cheshire Gritstone Trail. The village was served by a railway station, opened by the North Staffordshire Railway on 9 October 1848 and closed in 1964.

Mow Cop is also noteworthy as the birthplace of the Primitive Methodist movement. Starting in 1800, Hugh Bourne from Stoke-on-Trent and William Clowes from Burslem began holding open-air prayer meetings. On 31 May 1807, a large 14-hour camp meeting was held, leading to the founding of the Primitive Methodist Church in 1810. These camp meetings became a regular feature at Mow Cop, being held to celebrate the 100th, 150th and 200th anniversaries of the first camp.^[3]

The village is featured prominently in the 1973 novel Red Shift, by Alan Garner. Since the late 20th century, Mow Cop is known for its Killer Mile, a one-mile road-cycling race from the railway level crossing on the western side of the hill, up to the castle. The race was first organized in the early 1980s by John Britton.^[4] The climb is also well known among local cyclists and features in the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs in Britain.^[5]

Geography

The 335-metre (1,099 ft) hill on which the village lies upon is a moorland ridge composed of Sandstone and Millstone Grit rising eastwards above the Cheshire Plain. It is at the western edge of the Staffordshire Moorlands, forming the upland fringe of the southern Pennines, most of which are in the Peak District National Park to the east.^[6] On a clear day, the hill offers views extending to the West Pennine Moors, Welsh mountains (including Snowdonia), Shropshire Hills and Cannock Chase.

Notable residents

• 
  Ralph Barlow (1876 in Mow Cop – 1897), footballer who played for Burslem Port Vale in the mid-1890s.


• 
  Emmanuel Foster (1921 – 1965), English footballer, played for Mow Cop, Stoke City F.C. and Stafford Rangers F.C.
  


• 
  Alan Jones (born 1945), former director of Port Vale F.C.
  


• 
  Jack Simcock (1929–2012), artist, known for "a long series of bleak, sombre oils on board" of the Mow Cop area where he lived


• 
  Allen John Tankard (born 1969), English former footballer who played 519 league games, 275 for Port Vale. After retiring he worked in Mow Cop at a minibus and coach hire company which he now co-owns.

References

The following references are listed in the two books by Philip R. Leese:

• 
  Deardon, John (1986). Tale of the Backbone: Journey Along the Watershed of England. Book Guild. ISBN 0863321380.
  


• 
  Garner, Alan; Hill, Roger (1966). The Old Man of Mow. Collins. ASIN B005OH72RS.
  


• 
  Harper, W. J. (1907). Mow Cop and its Slopes: A Short History. The Local Herald. ASIN B004X2F04C.
  


• 
  Hoskins, W. G.; Grigson, Geoffrey (1951). Chilterns to Black Country. About Britain. 5. Collins. ASIN B0006D9DKY.
  


• 
  Kennedy, J., ed. (1980). Biddulph ("By the Diggings"): A Local History. Dept. of Adult Education, Keele University. ASIN B001OK2LSE.
  


• 
  Rowley, F. (c. 1907). Rowley's Photographic Centenary Souvenirs: Historic Mow Cop and Early Primitive Methodism. Biddulph: F. Rowley.
  


• 
  Simcock, J. (1975). Simcock, Mow Cop. self-published.
  


• 
  Walford, John (2011) [1854]. Memoirs of the Life and Labours of the Late Venerable Hugh Bourne: By a Member of the Bourne Family. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 110802498X.
  


• 
  Wilkes, Arthur; Lovatt, Joseph (1942). Mow Cop and the Camp Meeting Movement: Sketches of Primitive Methodism. Orphans' Printing Press Ltd. ASIN B002A8PCY4.
  


• 
  Leese, Philip R. (2010). Mow Cop: A Working Village. Churnet Valley Books. ISBN 9781904546726. Covers quarrying, coal mining, fustian, farming, shops and small businesses, and public houses.


• 
  Leese, Philip R. (2011). Mow Cop: Living on the Hill. Churnet Valley Books. ISBN 9781904546764. Covers social life, literary references to the hill, the Castle, the Mow Cop Giantess (Hannah Dale), Primitive Methodism, chapels, churches, schools, recreation, wartime reminiscences, and the artist Jack Simcock.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mow Cop.

• Mow Cop Computer-generated summit panoramas


• History of Mow Cop


• Photographs of the castle