Iron water tank at top of Hong Kong University campus [????- ]

Submitted by David on Fri, 01/27/2017 - 17:38
Current condition
Ruin

In the 1945 photo of HKU posted recently, an 8-sided roof down in the foreground caught my eye:

1945 view over HKU

It's the roof of a cast-iron water tank. The tank is right at the top of the campus, near the entrance to the university from Kotewall Road.

I've seen it many times over the years, and wondered how old it is. Now we know it dates back to 1945 at least.

Here are some photos I took this morning. If you walk along the path above University Avenue, when you get near the top you'll see the tank off in a clump of trees to the left:

View from path

 

Closer look

 

One of the panels has the text "B O" and a symbol on:

One panel has text

 

Close-up of text

 

The roof has rusted through. Poking a camera inside shows the old roof supports still in place, but that several of the roof segments have collapsed:

View inside

 

Can anyone tell us when it was built, and what the characters and symbol mean?

Photos that show this Place

Comments

Thanks Willy, its good to get confirmation this design of tank was in use in other parts of the British Empire, and also that they were still being made later than the 1850s.

Regards, David