Tanderagee [1907- ]

Submitted by annelisec on
Current condition
Unknown
Date completed
Public Records Office.
The land for the house at the very top right just below Mt. Gough Peak, Tanderagee, was leased by the Government in March 1905 to Alfred Bryer, Architect with Leigh & Orange (CSO 1/217/17 & Jury list).  The Colonial Secretary (now called Chief Secreatry) had been living in it for 4 years, and in 1917, the Government bought the property back from Mr. Bryer.
In 1935, the Chief Justice Mr. A.D.A. MacGregor, lived in Tanderagee, and allowed it to be used for the Peak School sports day.

Photos that show this Place

1912

Comments

Submitted by
Anonymous (not verified)
on
Mon, 01/04/2010 - 11:25

I am most interested in the name of this place. Tanderagee is a small town in Co. Armagh. Since Sir Thomas Jackson named his Hong Kong residence "Creggan" - after his ancestral parish in Armagh and also lived nearby, I am curious about the mid-1800 to early 1900 inhabitants of Tanderagee.

A search in the newspapers only turns up one mention:

Peak School Sports: An enjoyable meeting.

The Peak School held an enjoyable sports meeting yesterday afternoon at "Tanderagee", the residence of His Honour the Chief Justice, Mr A. D. A. MacGregor.

[...]

The Hong Kong Telegraph, 1935-02-16, page 5.

I don't think Tanderagee can be seen in the photo linked above (https://gwulo.com/atom/12906). It was situated on the north-east side of Mount Gough, whereas the photo shows its south and west sides only (the peak in the right corner of the pic), so Tanderagee is hidden behind the peak. 

I can't find a good quality photo of Tanderagee on Gwulo, but at least its silhouette can be seen in the following photos which help to explain its location.

View east from the Peak, late 1930s, by Admin

In the photo above, it's the building on the ridge line nearest to the top right corner, whilst in the one below its on the ridge line if you trace an imaginary line up from the left side of the former Legco/High Court building.

HK island from the harbour, by Admin

 I was surprised to read of the School Sports Day held at Tanderagee in the 1930's as it's difficult to imagine there being enough flat land there on which to hold many of the events. If there wasn't enough room for a running track, perhaps they ran back and forth along Pollock's Path which is fairly flat if I remember correctly? Although "safety and health" were not emphasized as much in those days, the potential dangers posed by the hammer and javelin events to pedestrians on Seven Road below Tanderagee are fairly obvious! 

Have their been any updates on the history of the home called Tanderagee since the last posts. In March, I am giving a talk in Co. Armagh focusing on Sir Thomas JACKSON, but since there were also JACKSONs at Tanderagee, Co. Armagh (as well as other families with a range of surnames who would have been part of the merchant and/or professional class class at the time), I am once again curious. Sharon Oddie Brown.

RBL 120 had been put up for public auction on 13 Mar 1905, described as "near Mount Gough Reservoir" with a requirement to build a substantial building within 2 years (Government Notification 115/1905).

The  Renumbering Exercise published on 19 June 1908 (Government Gazette 438/1908) included "Tanderagee", described it as a "new house" on RBL 120 and allocated it Peak No.119B. As Annelisec has suggested above, it is highly likely to have been the first owner, Alfred BRYER, who named it.

It had not been mentioned in the previous Renumbering Exercise relating to Peak property published on 2 Aug 1907 (Government Gazette 516/1907). 

Not appearing in the Aug 1907 list, but appearing in the Jun 1908 list and being described therein as "new", suggests it was completed sometime within this period.