Crooked House

With its black-and-white, half-timbered Tudor frontage standing in stark contrast to the surrounding lush green Cheshire countryside, Little Moreton Hall is certainly distinctive. But what is particularly remarkable is that it’s still standing at all. For this 500-year-old house is buckling under the weight of its own stone-slabbed roof and a Long Gallery perched precariously atop it.

Standing on marshland near the historic market town of Congleton, about 30 miles due south of Manchester, this curious building was built and owned for more than 400 years by successive generations of the Moreton family. However, the family were gentry, not aristocracy, and their societal standing went on to define both the design and the history of the house.

Not much is known about the Moretons, as their acquired wealth means there is little in terms