Trinity College Great Gate

The Great Gate of Trinity College is marked by a large stone statue of Henry the Eighth tucked into a niche above the arch. He holds a chair leg instead of a scepter. In the mid-nineteenth century, a student prankster climbed up and swapped the king's original golden orb for the wooden leg. The college authorities eventually decided to leave it there, and it remains in the statue's hand to this day, watching over everyone who passes through the gate.