Hi Dave, You asked about the purpose of the strange rooftops in my picture: http://www.pbase.com/image/3149411 Well it's an Oast House, used for drying hops made in the process of beer making. The roofs themselves drew up the hot air from the drying hops.
If you look here http://www.digiserve.com/peter/oast.htm it will explain a bit more with a cross section of the oast house.