M  o  w    C  o  p






Sat high on a hill eleven hundred feet above sea level on the Cheshire border, you will find Mow Cop.
This now ruined, two storey, thirty three foot tower, was originally erected in 1754 as a summer house while the attached arch - not visible in photograph - was constructed to give the impression of a ruin, as was fashionable at the time.







    Photo By Wyatt James  (See Page)


Methodism
It was erected for Mr Randle Wilbraham who lived several miles away at Rode Hall, by two local stonemasons John and Ralph Harding, but tends to be remembered now for being the birthplace of Methodism.


It was on this windswept hill in 1807, with its magnificent views, that Hugh Bourne of Stoke on Trent held a public gathering to preach the works of John Wesley. This was followed by an even larger meeting some five years later, from which the Methodist movement was formed.
   Mow Cop has also allowed many a local solicitor to dine out from the proceeds of the various legal disputes over the years, that this area has been involved in. As it is built on the county boundary, an adjoining family claimed rights at one time, then much later in the 1920`s the tower was subject to more legal wrangling as mining operations threatened to spoil the surrounding hill.

Wartime Service
During the war the Mow Cop hilltop saw service, when the RAF used it for some revolutionary secret work, that helped save countless lives.
The German air force used a system of two intersecting radio beams ( "Knickebein" ) to guide aircraft to their targets. At the point of intersection of these two beams the bomb cargo was unloaded. The RAF unit was a small installation on the hill top that disrupted these beams, causing the Germans to drop their deadly cargo off target.

Visiting:-
The tower is now owned by the National Trust, and apparently has recently for some reason known only to them, had the addition of iron bars to the windows and doors.

Co-Ords: 385800 357350 / SJ 858573  

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