Description of an intraformational contorted shale in the Middle Coal Measures of the Potteries Coalfield. The contorted bed occurs immediately below the Winpenny Coal in thin argillaceous measures between thick sandstones. It shows strongly slickensided contacts, and consists of black carbonaceous shale, folded, sheared, and burnished. Deformation is ascribed to shearing stresses operating during folding. This shale is called “hussle” by the miners, whilst a similarly contorted, but non-carbonaceous, shale was termed “crozzle” by old miners of the Staffordshire-Derbyshire moors.