Mow Cop is a village split between Cheshire and Staffordshire, and therefore divided between the North West and West Midlands regions of England. It is south of Manchester and north of Stoke-on-Trent, on a steep hill of the same name rising up to above sea level. The village is at the edge of the southern Pennines, with the Cheshire Plain directly to the west. For population details taken at the 2011 census, see Kidsgrove. The Cheshire section is the highest settlement within the county of Cheshire. Geography The 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. On a clear day, the hill offers views extending to the West Pennine Moors, Welsh mountains (including Snowdonia), Shropshire Hills and Cannock Chase. History 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. 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 rock feature called the Old Man O'Mow in one of the quarried areas is believed to be the site of an ancient cairn. A railway station, opened by the North Staffordshire Railway, served the village from 9 October 1848 to its closure in 1964. The Castle 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 Castle and the Old Man O'Mow are under the management of the National Trust, and on the route of the Cheshire Gritstone Trail, a long-distance walking route. Birthplace of Primitive Methodism Mow Cop is 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