 The Great Gate, built in 1530 as part of King's Hall and the largest of all the college gates, is the only one with two doors, one large and one small. When a new Master is admitted, a ceremony is held at the larger gate.
Above the Great Gate, on the outside of the College, is a statue of the College's founder, King Henry VIII. Some years ago, his sceptre was replaced by a chairleg as an undergraduate prank; its current whereabouts are unknown. Underneath are the coats of arms of Edward III and his sons.
Among the cobbles outside the Gate is a very unusual stone, geologically speaking, which has the letters TCN inscribed on it in memory of a past Senior Bursar, T. C. Nicholas, who was a Fellow of Trinity from before the First World War until he died in 1989 aged 101.
To the right are the former rooms of Sir Isaac Newton, the famous mathematician and natural philosopher. In what was once his garden is an apple tree reputedly descended from one at his home at Woolsthorpe in Lincolnshire. The novelist William Thackeray also lived on the same staircase in what is now part of the Porter's Lodge.
As you step through the Gate, the roof bosses feature the coats of arms of previous Masters including Lord (Rab) Butler (1965-78) and William Bill (1551-53).
Facing inwards towards Great Court are statues of King James I, his wife Anne of Denmark and his heir, Prince Charles, later King Charles I. |
