The Dutch Cottage is an octagonal-shaped cottage located in Rayleigh, Essex

Rayleigh, Essex

Rayleigh is a market town and civil parish in the District of Rochford in Essex, England, located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea. It lies to the east of central London. It has a population of 30,196, having expanded rapidly in the 1960s.-Toponymy:...

. It is both the smallest and the oldest council house

Council house

A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...

 in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and takes its name from the association of this type of house with the seventeenth century Dutch immigrants who constructed many of the sea walls of the south Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

 coast.

The cottage's history is the subject of dispute. Above the front door is an inscription which reads "1621", suggesting its year of construction. Nevertheless, surveyor

Surveying

See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...

s, architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

s and historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

s who have studied the cottage have opined that it was not built until the eighteenth century, more specifically around 1740.

The unusual octagonal structure is said to serve several functions. It is strong, relatively easy to thatch, and provides the occupants with a more panoramic view. Also, for the superstitious, the lack of right angle

Right angle

In geometry and trigonometry, a right angle is an angle that bisects the angle formed by two halves of a straight line. More precisely, if a ray is placed so that its endpoint is on a line and the adjacent angles are equal, then they are right angles...

s prevented evil spirits from lurking in wait around a corner.

Owners Rochford District Council

Rochford (district)

Rochford is a local government district in Essex, England. It is named for one of its main settlements, Rochford, though the major centre of population in the district is the town of Rayleigh...

opened the cottage to residential tenant applicants in 2008 for £75 per week in rent, on condition that they would make the property available for pre-arranged guided tours every Wednesday afternoon.