Mow Cop
Dramatic Mow Cop is situated to the south of the town of Congleton. Dominating the surrounding countryside, it sits on the border of two counties, being partly in Staffordshire and partly in Cheshire. At a height of nearly 1100ft (almost 335 metres) above sea-level, Mow Cop offers some superb views of the surrounding Cheshire countryside and the Derbyshire Peak District.
The romantic folly was built as a summerhouse which ressembles a ruined castle in 1746 for Randle Wilbraham I of Rode Hall, and would have enhanced the view of the newly constructed Rode Hall situated some 3 miles away. The Wilbraham family used the summerhouse for picnics and entertaining friends.
The View from the Folly
The Old Man O'Mow rock pillar stands on the site of an ancient cairn, the cairn may have been a burial mound, linked to the Bride Stones of Cloud End, which stand around three miles to the North. It is more probably merely a boundary marker which once separated the two counties. The Castle, surrounding land and the Old Man rock pillar were donated to the National Trust in 1926 by Joseph Lovatt.
The name derives from the Anglo_saxon Muga-hyll meaning "heap-hill", with copp which translates as "head" added later.