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 initially erected in 1754 as a summer house, while the attached arch was constructed to give the impression of a ruin, as was fashionable at the time.
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, from which the Methodist movement was formed five years later.
Mow Cop has also allowed many local solicitors to dine out from the proceeds of the various legal disputes in which this area has been involved over the years. As it is built on the county boundary, an adjoining family claimed rights at one time. Then, much later in the 1920s, 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 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 hilltop that disrupted these beams, causing the Germans to drop their deadly load off target.
Visiting:-
The National Trust now owns the tower and has recently, added iron bars to the windows and doors.
Source: Follies & Monuments
