Lyemun beach.

Andrew Suddaby
Wed, 02/27/2019 - 18:26
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Lyemun beach.

YThese two pre-war buildings were right down on the slab rocks immediately above the small beach at Lyemun.  They are also just visible on one or two of Peter Keeley's photographs. Since seeing this image some years ago I have been puzzled by why the military would have built it with wide opening doors at the front. Did it house a Lyon Light with the smaller building next to it a store.  Have you any ideas Rob?

The Accommodation block on this image is one of the ones that was used by the R.A.F..  It was, as far as I know, the only one that was demolished some years ago and its site is now occupied by the smaller building used by the Lei Mun Public Riding School.  (Andrew S)

 

Date picture taken
1952
Author(s)
Frank Kelbie
Gallery
Kelbie, Frank (1952-54)

Comments

I could only give a good guess. But it seems to be in the area (and building shape) corresponding to a shore battery, likely Lye Mun Reverse battery or possibly pak sha wan battery. 

I have been to the area once and there are a number of large bunkers that look like the left structure. Perhaps a DEL or battery structure?

Hi,

Rob, who is an expert on all the wartime structures, was certain that it was not a Lyon Light shelter.  He thought that it was a bit too far away from the known Pak Sha Wan buildings (further North) to be any of them but I don't know about the Lye Mun Reverse battery.  Neither of us could understand why it had once had large double doors at the front as it couldn't have been a garage right down near sea level and it is obviously of a relatively flimsy structure for an operational military building.  All along that relatively short stretch of coast there are small military structures mostly on the hillside but also down near the sea. By the early 1950s, when the photograph was taken, both buildings were  obviously not being used and were semi derelict, so they must have been either pre-war or built during the war by the Japanese - but that is only speculation. My latest, speculative thought was that it might have been a dinghy store with perhaps a changing(?) room next door.   There doesn't seem to be a lot of information on buildings built by the Japanese - and there must hae been some.

Best wishes, Andrew

Interesting to hear Rob and your opinions. Yeah, seems a bit of a mystery then. It does appear military-esque though. It could be Japanese aswell I supposed, or just some sort of goverment/wartime storage perhaps. I wonder if it is still standing, since a 50s photo makes it harder to analyze it properly.

 

cheers

I inserted a red pin, 'Lyemun beach' fairly close to where this small rocky beach was.  I believe that it was inside the loop where the slip road now enters the Eastern Corridor road, now covered in quite dense vegetation and I suspect that when the road works were being constructed the buildings were probably demolished. Check on the 'Lyemun 1' photograph (the one without the junk) to get your bearings.  The frontless building is just visible on the shoreline slightly to the left of the large accommodation block nearest to the beach.  This was demolished years ago and a riding school building now stands there.  It's possible that some of the small buildings on the slope on the 'junk' photograph might still be there, buried in the trees, but I don't know whether you could get to them now.  Best wishes, Andrew

I doubt if these would have had any association with the Reverse Battery. It was on the far side of a ridge line on which the Pak Sha Battery was later built. Reverse faced almost north, across Lye Yue Mun to the Devils Peak Peninsular, and the arc of fire of even the right most gun would only just have been the eastern edge of the DP Peninsular. Searchlights were not installed on the coast of the bay until Pak Sha Wan Bty, version 1, was built around 1900. Whether those buildings were associated with PSW Bty I can't say, but they appear to be much further into the bay than plans of the DEL's would indicate.