Pointless Portals - Part One

I have stumbled across a few gateways to nowhere in the archive and it seems they need publishing in the hope that we can determine that, in fact, nowhere's just fine. We pass through entrances to shops, houses, offices, railway stations, churches and pubs as part of our every-day lives, often without giving them a second thought. I appreciate that our great unmitigated coleague has this patch well covered and hopefully we can all learn something from his observations on the subject. What I am exploring here is the opportunity we are given - by virtue of the fact that we are not distracted by the price of bread, remembering our host's name, panic at missing the train or deciding what beer we need - to actually appreciate the craftsmanship and pointlessness, speculate on the history and to-ings and froe-ings that these structures have witnessed. This particular gate way did originally serve a purpose in the late eighteenth century but now is more easily passed around than through. What is startlingly absent is the security intercom and opening mechanism that would have enabled his lordship to sweep through at speed, horses lathered and fearful, on his way to church with a well timed "bleep" from his remote switch.