ec2-3-235-188-113.compute-1.amazonaws.com | ToothyWiki | TrinityCollege | RecentChanges | Login | Webcomic Above TrinityCollege/GreatGate? is a statue of HenryVIII (ignore the lettering saying EdwardVI? - I think), holding an orb and a chair-leg. There are two rumours about the reason: the first is that during a 70s MayWeek, some drunken students replaced his sceptre with the chair-leg and threw the sceptre in the Cam, whence it has never been recovered: the second, less credible, is that the porters replaced it to pre-empt any such occurence. (But why not also replace the orb?)
The version I heard from one of the local tourist office listed tour guides is that when the students originally replaced the scepter with a leg, the porters replaced the leg with a scepter. This happened for a number of years, until the leg finally became so well known that it was decided to leave it there as a feature. About 10 years later, the leg rotted away. This time it was replaced by another leg - by the porters themselves.