Mow Cop and the camp meetings

Mow Cop is a village on a high isolated hill. The village straddles the Cheshire - Staffordshire border, and in this capacity, is also divided along the North West and West Midlands of England.

Mow Cop "castle" stands at the summit of the hill, about 1,020ft above sea level.
It was built as a summerhouse in 1754 for Randle Wilbraham I of Rode Hall. It was built to look like part of a castle of a bygone era, and would have enhanced the view of the newly constructed Rode Hall some 3 miles away on the Cheshire side of the hill.

Mow Cop is very much associated with the Primitive Methodist movement; in fact it is Primitive Methodism that put Mow Cop on the map much more than it’s castle or its centuries of industry.

On the 31^st May 1807 Hugh Bourne and William Clowes started the first camp meeting. The day started cloudy and rained threatened to spoil the day, however it soon brightened and people had travelled from as far as Macclesfield and Warrington, it was not well organised.
Pulpits were made from piles of rocks, and yet so many turned up.

The first meeting lasted 14 hours and ended at 8:00pm. The day had been a success, and so began the organising of a second camp meeting. This took place some 3 months later on the Saturday August 22^nd 1807, and was much better organised. This was to be a day and night affair and started at 4 o’clock in the afternoon and continued throughout the night.

There were many people, mainly from the Methodist church that tried in vain to get the camp meetings banned, but to no avail.

TO THE GLORY OF GOD
a Camp Meeting near
this spot on May 31st  1807
 began the Religious Revival
led by Hugh Bourne and William Clowes
known as Primitive Methodism
Unveiled by the President of the
Methodist Conference May 13th 1948

View from Mow Cop - looking towards Biddulph


photos:  Steve Birks  June 2008

next: Primitive Methodist Memorial Chapel, Mow Cop
previous: born on the 27th June 1808