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Strange structures come in all shapes and sizes. Monuments to self-indulgence and exercises in architectural skill and experimentation with the latest materials have thrown up amazing constructions the world over.

To select just one seems at first sight to be rather cruel. Casting aside the most awesome names and designs in history is also likely to provoke passionate argument and spilled pints in pubs everywhere.

So what is my choice? Where do I stick my pin? What strange structure do I feel most deserving?

Margate Shell Grotto.

I can already hear the sharpening of pitch-forks amongst the multitude of voices that are saying "What? Where? Never heard of it!"

But let me tell you about one of the more bizarre, weird and little-known structures that, even to this day have flummoxed archaeologists, historians and architects for hundreds of years.

Under a very inauspicious, somewhat run-down area of Southern England, near the coast of the resort of Margate lies the Margate Shell Grotto, sometimes referred to as Margate Shell Cave. Its age is unknown. Its purpose is equally vague and it remains one of the best kept secrets, despite being open to the public since 1837.

It's not the most amazing, beautiful or awe-inspiring of structures but some facts and figures do show some impressive statistics. 4.6 million shells were used to create it, covering over two thousand square feet in a variety of intricate patterns, ranging from trees and gods to phallic symbols. And no-one knows why. The adhesive used to stick the shells to the carved chalk walls has been difficult to establish too, although the ingredients have been analysed as a mixture of fish paste and contains volcanic elements, the rest of the glue has been impossible to establish.

To describe the cave is fairly straightforward. A passageway leads you into the rotunda, a donut shaped chamber that in turn leads into the dome.

The dome may be the most significant part of the cave as this provides some tantalising clues as to its age and purpose. The calculation that uses the position of the sun as to the position the light enters and illuminates the area, suggests that the construction was in the twelfth century. As the use of solar dating has been heavily associated with religion over the years, it would also indicate that its early use was as a sort of temple.

From the dome the serpentine passage takes you to the altar room, a rectangular chamber covered in patterns of sun, moon and stars, again indicating a somewhat religious

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