The 335-metre (1,099 ft) hill on which the village lies is a moorland ridge composed of sandstone and Millstone Grit rising eastwards above the Cheshire Plain.

It is at the western edge of the Staffordshire Moorlands, forming the upland fringe of the southern Pennines, most of which are in the Peak District National Park to the east.

[3] At the village's summit, men once quarried stone to make into querns, used since the Iron Age for milling grain; this trade ended during the Victorian period.

The castle has also been a magnet for artists and can be seen in everything from local watercolour and oil paintings and postcards to ceramics made in the nearby Potteries.

Since the late 20th century, Mow Cop has been known for its Killer Mile, a one-mile running race from the railway level crossing on the western side of the hill up to the castle.

[6] On 22 December 1990, the body of Stoke-on-Trent taxi driver Steven Johnson, a 25-year-old married father of two children, was discovered by a dog-walker on a farm track near Castle Road in Mow Cop.