Mow Cop, Staffordshire Genealogy

Parish History
Mow Cop St Thomas is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Staffordshire, created in 1843 from Wolstanton Wolstanton, Staffordshire Ancient Parish, Keele, Staffordshire Ecclesiastical Parish, Hanford Hanford, Staffordshire Ecclesiastical Parish and  Biddulph, Staffordshire Ancient Parish

Mow Cop is a village on a high isolated hill. The village straddles the Cheshire–Staffordshire border and is thus also divided between the North West and West Midlands regions of England.

The name is first recorded as "Mowel" around 1270 AD. It is believed to have come from either:

Anglo-Saxon Mūga-hyll = "heap-hill", with copp = "head" added later The Common Celtic ancestor of Welsh moel (= hill), with Anglo-Saxon copp added later. At its summit men had quarried stone to make into querns used for milling corn since the Iron Age; this trade ended in the Victorian period.

Mow Cop Castle is a folly of a ruined castle at the summit of the hill, built in 1754.

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 and as a result the Primitive Methodist Church was formed in 1810. These camp meetings became a regular feature at Mow Cop and camps were also held to celebrate the 100th, 150th and 200th anniversaries of the first camp.

Mow Cop is a village on a high isolated hill. The village straddles the Cheshire–Staffordshire border and is thus also divided between the North West and West Midlands regions of England.

The name is first recorded as "Mowel" around 1270 AD. It is believed to have come from either:

Anglo-Saxon Mūga-hyll = "heap-hill", with copp = "head" added later The Common Celtic ancestor of Welsh moel (= hill), with Anglo-Saxon copp added later. At its summit men had quarried stone to make into querns used for milling corn since the Iron Age; this trade ended in the Victorian period.

Mow Cop Castle is a folly of a ruined castle at the summit of the hill, built in 1754.

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 and as a result the Primitive Methodist Church was formed in 1810. These camp meetings became a regular feature at Mow Cop and camps were also held to celebrate the 100th, 150th and 200th anniversaries of the first camp.

Parts of the parish lie in the Cheshire East District since 1974 and part in Newcatle under Lyme District of Staffordshire. Accordingly parts of the parish lie in different Poor Law Unions and registration districts.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD. Online index for Congleton registration district Cheshire BMD

Church records
Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Census records
Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Index for the Census may be searched at FamilySearch Historical Records

http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
Congleton Poor Law Union, Cheshire

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Staffordshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.