The Crooked House is a public house in the West Midlands

West Midlands (county)

The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...

 of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Its name and distinctive appearance are the result of 19th century mining subsidence. One side of the building is now approximately four feet lower than the other.

It stands in an isolated location just off the B4176 road between Dudley

Dudley

Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...

 and Telford

Telford

Telford is a large new town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, approximately east of Shrewsbury, and west of Birmingham...

, approximately three miles from the nearest town centres of Sedgley

Sedgley

Sedgley is an urban village within the West Midlands county of England. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Sedgley was formerly an ancient manor composed of several smaller villages, including Gornal, Gospel End, Woodsetton, Ettingshall, Coseley and Brierley...

 and Dudley. It is located just within the Dudley borough

Metropolitan Borough of Dudley

The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It was created in 1974, and is made up of the towns of Dudley , Stourbridge , Halesowen, Brierley Hill, Amblecote, Sedgley and Coseley...

 boundary near the border with South Staffordshire

South Staffordshire

South Staffordshire is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. The district lies to the north and west of Wolverhampton and the West Midlands, bordering Shropshire to the west and Worcestershire to the south...

.

History

The Crooked House was built in 1765 and was originally a farmhouse. It later became a public house called the Siden House, 'siden' meaning 'crooked' in the local Black Country dialect. The building was later named the Glynne Arms after the local landowner.
The building was condemned as unsafe in the 1940s and was scheduled for demolition. It was rescued by Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries who made the structure safe using buttresses and girders so as to retain its lopsided appearance.

Optical illusions

The building's leaning walls give rise to some optical illusions as with a gravity hill

Gravity hill

A gravity hill, also known as a magnetic hill , is a place where the layout of the surrounding land produces the optical illusion that a very slight downhill slope appears to be an uphill slope...

. These include glasses slowly sliding across 'level' tables and a marble

Marble (toy)

A marble is a small spherical toy usually made from glass, clay, steel, or agate. These balls vary in size. Most commonly, they are about ½ inch in diameter, but they may range from less than ¼ inch to over 3 inches , while some art glass marbles fordisplay purposes are over 12 inches ...

appearing to roll uphill.