MOWCOP is a scattered ecclesiastical district, formed February 16, 1844, from the parishes of Biddulph and Wolstanton, upon a lofty eminence on the borders of Cheshire, 2 miles north-east from Kidsgrove, and about the same distance from the Mowcop station on the Stoke and Macclesfield line of the North Staffordshire railway and 5 north from Tunstall, in the townships of STADMORESLOW and BRIERYHURST, North Western division of the county, petty sessional division, and hundred of Pirehill North, Wolstanton and Burslern union, Tanstall county court district, rural deanery of Newcastle, archdeaconry of Stoke-on-Trent and diocese of Lichfield. The church of St. Thomas is a modern building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, and an embattled western tower containing one bell: the stained east window is a memorial to a former vicar: there are 640 sittings. The register dates from the year 1843.

The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £167, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Lichfield and held since 1877 by the Rev. John Seed, of St. Bees. There are Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist and Reformed Methodist chapels at Mowcop, and Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels at HARRISEAHEAD, a village partly in this parish; DALES GREEN and ROOKERY are other villages. Along the ridge of Mowcop Hill runs the boundary line between the counties of Chester and Stafford, and on the summit is a tower, built by the Wilbraham family about 1760, or earlier, and commanding a picturesque and extensive view of the surrounding counties, notably the Wrekin and Welsh hills. Ralph Sneyd esq. of Keele Hall, is lord of the manor and principal landowner. The soil is sand; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat. The rateable value of Brieryhurst is £9,356, and of Stadmoreslow £1,628; the population in 1891 was 1,709.

Sexton, Henry Proudlove.

POST & M.O.O., S.B. & Annuity & Insurance Office.- Edwin Hancock, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive through Stoke-upon-Trent at 8.10 a.m.; dispatched at 8 p.m; on sundays arrive at 8.10 a.m. & dispatched at 12 p.m. The telegraph office is at the railway station

POST & M.O.O. & S.B. & Annuity & Insurance Office, Harriseahead.- John Taylor, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive through Stoke-upon-Trent at 7.40 a.m.; dispatched at 5.40 p.m.; on sundays arrive at 8 a.m.; & dispatched at 12.23 p.m. The nearest telegraph office is at Kidsgrove

WALL LETTER BOXES, on Church, cleared 7.30 p.m; sundays, 12 noon; Rookery, cleared at 6 p.m. week days only; Mount Pleasant, 7 p.m

SCHOOLS:-
Board (mixed & infants), built in 1890 for 200 boys & girls & 120 infants; average attendance, 150 boys & girls & 86 infants; Richard Timmis, master; Miss Tittensor, infants' mistress

Board (mixed & infants), Harriseahead, built in 1879, for 400 boys & girls & 100 infants; average attendance, 140 boys & girls & 70 infants; Thomas Hargreaves, master; Miss Goodhall, infants' mistress

Railway Station, John Ratcliffe, station master
[Kelly's Directory of Staffordshire, 1896]