Possession Point Battery, Sheung Wan [1850-????]

Submitted by Rob on Mon, 03/19/2012 - 22:06
Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists
Date completed

Year completed is: Approximate
Condition at last visit: Demolished
Date of last visit: Apr-1998
Ref: ROB-00146
Other: Location is a rough estimate. Improvements welcome!

Timeline:

  • 1854: A battery constructed at Possession Point for 2 x 8" Howitzers a Fleur-deau (literal: at the water's edge). Edgers Bungalow presently rented for six months as barracks for the garrison of the Possession Point Bty.  (WO 1/481).
  • 1882: Un-named Bty marked on map at Possession Point.  (MPHH 1/465).

For a background to these notes, and a glossary of terms used, please see: http://gwulo.com/node/24630  

Tags

Comments

For unrelated reasons, I've been a bit focussed on the Possession Point area 1844-2023 (full details in a note in the JRASHK in 2024 I hope). The mapping details one can see on Tymon Mellor's excellent HK Maps site seem to make the proposed location of this "a fleur d'eau" battery very questionable.

The well known 1859 map shows the battery as 'proposed' and to be put on top of Possession Point. By the early 1860s the reclamation following the 1851 Sheung Wan fire had pushed the shoreline significantly north of the seaward side of Possession Point. Indeed, it would seem to have been at least 50m clear of the point by 1845 and Bernard Collinson's Ordnance Map seems to confirm this - Lt Heath's 1846 water colour shows much the same. The 1859 plan (which shows the 'proposed battery' on top of the point) has the planned post-reclamation shoreline c.100m north of the point, around the north side of which Queen's Road had passed since the mid-1840s. By 1889 the shoreline was c.200m north of the northern edge of Possession Point. From the 1844 town layout plan through 1866, nothing is shown on the area north and immediately either side of Possession Point that looks anything like a battery location.

Rob's data is unequivocal with respect to there actually being a battery as of c.1854. So where was it?

May I suggest that the 1859 plan has a heavy hint. About 400m WNW of the top of Possession Point, where the "proposed battery" is noted, there is a semi-circular extension (i.e. battery shaped extension) to the proposed shoreline with, inland of it, a triangular area marked "Reserved". This also appears as something completed on the 1865 plan. It has disappeared by 1888.

Best,

StephenD

To back up Stephen's suggestion is the fact that Edger's bungalow was rented as barracks for the men manning the battery. Edgers bungalow became the New Civil hospital, which is shown just up hill from the proposed battery location. Today the location of Edgers bungalow would be where the tunnel from the MTR exit A1 bends.