Specially for our friends in Russia who love all this gatepost stuff, here is a nice photo taken today -- from a roadside near Cwm Gwaun in Pembrokeshire. An old dolerite gatepost complete with hole and rusty hinge, and a new wooden one which has taken its place -- with the old stone one still used for extra stability.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteIn your examinations of gateposts, do you see any that have been artificially shaped?
Do the used stones have a natural pillar shape, or have they been worked in your view? I've been looking at posts, but am not sure how to distinguish them.
You've said before that some seem to have more holes than would be needed to hang a gate, could some of these holes be the result of stone shaping or blasting? How do the holes in the stones differ from those seen on the various rock outcrops on hills.
Looking at these gateposts is going to take more time than I thought, if ever I get round to it. Not forgetting that I can't distinguish the rock type for toffee.
Dave
Most of the gateposts I have seen look pretty natural -- I suspect they have just been collected from the fields, for the most part. Some do have chunks knocked off them -- but the damage seems to be quite modern, since the weathered surfaces look fresher than those on the rest of the stone. As for the holes, they have clearly been made with metal tools, and most of them seem to be about 2 - 3 cm in diameter -- suitable for passing a threaded end of a hinge through the stone and fixing with a bolt at the other end.
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