MOW COP

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 108, 3 November 1923, Page 16

MOW COP

irECOj| K OF ALL GOOD METHODISTS

The I announcement that quarrying op^ eration(i. are-Ukely to.be begun cm the upper i .ait .of Mow Cop Hill has aroused considerable resentment in North Staffordehii ■» and Soutn-eaet'CHesnim Objection jis raised, says, a correspondent of the " T\ lancbester Guardian," not only on account-ofc the threatened interference 'wilih a.popular holiday-ground but .because; it was on the slopes of■■ this hill that Paimitiye; Methodism' originated a "little over : a' hundred year* ago. • Hugh Bourne,: J.he founder of the "Connexlion," wjasborn in the district, and where a-youn|r man joined ths Wesleyah Society. He began evangelistic work amon'2 his 'neighbours, and on hearing'of the* success jof " camp meetings" in American religious, life, decided to hold such; ■a gathering on Mow Cop. -Thin took place oii Sunday, 31st May, 1807 and, was profbably the- firat of the kind held; ■in ..England. Singing,, prayers anot preacJuTig continued from 6 in the morning- until late evening, and so great; were tU c crowds that four preaching "■6tands" were required. This ilaring innovation in. evangelistic methods)., however, greatly shocked the more stj ad, members of the Wesleyan Society. Tim conference recorded ■on its minutes; that it considered '•' camp meetings •■ a s "highly improper in England, andhkuly to bo productive of considerable mijichief," and disclaimed " all connection • with them." Bourne, however,, travelled I the country promoting similar gathenn gs wherever he could. At length the Buj slem Wesleyan Quarterly Meeting expelled him from membership in the Boctety. Ha thereupon formed? a, class for persons who had not previously ibelonged to any church, and this was the.; nucleus of tha Primitive Methodist C<* inexion, which now numbers more th an 200,000 members. Mow Cop mV?! A? 6" ve Sardcd as a sort of iMßawd^st.Mpcca, and any interference with thf ls rallying point for open-'aiv »•■ i hgious {gatherings is likely tp" snouuntei'.■itrong^qepoßitidn,