Geograph - photograph every grid square

This looks just as an old toll house might look. But it is probably too far back from the road and this is not a significant enough road to have one. So is it just designed like that because the original owner liked the idea?

Update 14 November 2012. I have been contacted by someone who grew up in the area, saying that he remembers in the 1970s there was just one octagon. The second was added in the early 1980s, with local people being impressed how sympathetic the extension was to the original building. So half of the current building is much later than it appears! But which half? The plot thickens!


Further research reveals that the left part is original, the right part is newer. Also, on the planning map the right part is not a true octagon; it has a different shape behind. Finally, another contact has solved its purpose. It seems to have been built as a gate lodge to the adjacent Compton House at some point in the early 1920s.


I have left all of this dialogue to show how sometimes one photo can lead to some fascinating research. Thanks to all my correspondents.