Williamstown, Massachusetts is the home of Williams College, an elite school with a history going back about as far as formal history does in the United States. As you’d expect, then, the emphasis is on academic study, not athletics.
But sports are played. This is the gate to an athletic field, in keeping, as you’d hope, with the appearance, at least, of the venerable construction of Williams’s early days.
The plaque says, enticingly, “Gargoyle Gate”, but I couldn’t find the gargoyle.
However, the metal portion of the gate was as pleasing as the stone, even without gargoyles:
The ancient (by North American standards) hasp and bar are still in place, but secured by a decidedly modern padlock. If not secured by the padlock or something similar, the bar can be lifted completely off the gate.
The hinge isn’t at the point where the separate halves join; it’s what allows the end of the bar to fold over the loop that, in combination with the hook above, holds the bar in place and level.
The bar is warped now, and no longer hooks as it should, at the other side, once the gate is closed.
At the end of the bar, the grip is impressively lethal looking, with that spike-like finial threatening serious violence to anyone imprudent enough to fall against it.
Basil admired the intricacy of the pattern. Old technology and new: Metal, it’s lovely stuff!