Travel: The things I've seen: The Crooked House

THERE was extensive coal mining for many years on the Black Country estates of the Earl of Dudley. There were brickworks too, and a network of goods railways, now dismantled. An underground tunnel from Baggeridge Colliery passed very close to a licensed beer shop near Dudley known as The Siden House, because of its proximity to the railway sidings.

In the late 19th century the building began to move. The southern end subsided into the ground, but for some reason remained intact. As it continued to move, steel ties were added and a buttress built at the lower end. At last it stopped sinking. They changed its name to The Crooked House.

The Crooked House is at Ordnance Survey Grid Reference SO 897908.

(Photograph omitted)