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Gate guardians

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At Chiddingstone Castle we noticed two dog statues, positioned either side of the big gate at the entrance to the house; they were perky and alert in a stony way, and they reminded me of other such statues place either side of an entrance to a stately home, or in a sentinel position in a big garden.

A gate guardian is usually understood to be a piece of military equipment like a big cannon placed at the entrance to a castle or barracks, or in the case of an airbase it might be an old aircraft. Janus was the Roman god of doors and gateways, and for the Chinese there were the door gods Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong.

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I saw another pair of dogs when we were at the Hauser & Wirth gallery in Bruton; they were on either side of what might have been an impressive farmhouse.

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… and there was another beast in Devon,

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…and his friend…

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…and then I found this little chap in the Netherlands…

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Filed under: Bits and pieces Tagged: Bruton, Chiddingstone Castle, gate guardian, Hauser & Wirth, Janus, Qin Qiong, Yuchi Gong

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