Mow Cop Castle — Attraction in Newcastle-under-Lyme

Quite a beautiful area and a stunning viewpoint only about 9-10 miles from where I live. This high hill/mini-mountain is definitely one of the first main peaks of the southern Pennines and an outlier of the nearby Peak District, rising from the Cheshire Plain in the west and the lower foothills to the south across the Potteries area. Castle is mainly a ruined yet beautiful folly surrounded by rocks on top of the hill and has amazing views from the top extending across Cheshire and North Staffordshire to Stoke, Newcastle, Manchester, Jodrell Bank, the southern Peak District, West Pennine Moors, Cannock Chase, Shropshire Hills and the hills and mountains of Wales. Not to mention its nice to walk around the castle, rocks and the village. However, care should be taken if you are driving up and down the Killer Mile road (one of the steepest roads I've ever driven through with the 25% gradient, definitely like driving into a mountain, though I love driving through it), when walking around the rocky bits surrounding the castle and when climbing up the stairs to the castle as the ground is quite uneven in those places. And it's now slightly better now that there is an information board in the car park explaining the background and history of the castle (until 2021, the information board for the castle's background and history wasn't there) and there is another information board closer to the castle about the methodist sermons in the 19th Century. Having said all that, Mow Cop remains an area I love travelling to, even if its just for...

Mow Cop Castle (Folly) is situated on a hill with spectacular views across the county’s of Staffordshire, Cheshire and beyond. If views are your thing, this one comes high recommended!!

Owned and operated by the National Trust with a car park, free for the first 2 hrs. The car park is managed by a ranger, so please bear this in mind if visiting before or after the official opening hours. We arrived just as they were closing the gates for the day, so chose the very limited road side parking whilst at the same time trying to be mindful and considerate of the local residents.

It’s only a short walk upto the folly, it’s uneven ground throughout with steps and tracks leading off to the castle or off to the rock formations.

We visited on a beautiful spring evening but said straight away this is a great place to wind away a couple of hours, taking in the views with a picnic. I also imagine there’s some great sun sets to be seen !

Something to note if like me you like taking a good picture and use a drone from time to time. There are signs everywhere staying no drones ‘on the NT site’ As I don’t want to miss out on taking a scenic pic, I chose to fly from a public place took a couple of shots going straight up but at not time flying over the site itself to consider NT’s request but at all times following the UK CAA rules for the use...

Copied from Wikipedia,I'd recommend this toexplore what ever the weather. Mow Cop Castle is a folly at Mow Cop in the civil parish of Odd Rode, Cheshire, England It is designated as a Grade II listed building on the National Heritage List for England.[1] The ridge, upon which the castle sits, forms the boundary between the counties of Cheshire and Staffordshire, the dioceses of Chester and Lichfield and the ecclesiastical provinces of Canterbury and York.Traces of a prehistoric camp have been found here. In 1754, Randle Wilbraham of nearby Rode Hall built an elaborate summerhouse looking like a medieval fortress and round tower.

The area around the castle was nationally famous for the quarrying of high-quality millstones ('querns') for use in water mills. Excavations at Mow Cop have found querns dating back to the Iron Age.

The castle was given to the National Trust in 1937. That same year, over ten thousand Methodists met on the hill to commemorate the first Primitive Methodist camp meeting there.

Though visitors were originally allowed inside the folly, the area surrounding it has been fenced off due to several suicide attempts and one suicide on the ledge. At the turn of the millennium in the year 2000, a large fire was lit beside the folly as part of a network of communicating beacons across...