Tung Chung Fort has always been regarded as one of the two batteries built in the twenty second year of the Jiaqing reign as recorded
in the Guangdong Annals.However, through the efforts of staff from the Antiquities and Monuments Office, a discovery at the main gate
provides new clues to the fort's origin.
Above the main gate of the fort, to the right of the two big inscribed characters, 'Gong Chen', a small inscription has also been noted.In
early 1989, the Antiquities and Monuments Offic made rubbings of the inscription.Although badly weathered, it reveals that the fort was
completed in the twelfth year of the Daoguang reign(1832), under the supervision of Captain He Junlong. The fort was know as'Suo
Cheng' in the Qing Dynasty which was the naval headquarters of the Right Battalion of Dapeng. It is difficult to prove whether it was then
newly constructed or was only a modification of the earlier Rocky Lion Hill Fort. In 1898 when the New Territories was leased to Britain,
the fort was evacuated by the Qing authorities.
The fort, measuring seventy metres by eighty metres, is enclosed by walls constructed of large, well-dressed granite block with three
arched gateways on the east, west and north. Each is sumounted by a Chinese inscription. The east gate bears the characters' Jie Xiu',
the west gate 'Lian Geng' and the main gate on the north 'Gong Chen"
There are six okd muzzle-loading cannon, each resting on a cemented base, on the main wall.Insciptions are found on them, However,
only inscriptions of four cannon are still legible stating that they were all cast in the Qing Dynasty.The Administrative Report of the Southern
District Offic of 1918 recorded the sale of a number ofold cannon. It also mentioned that six guns were selected for mounting upon the wall
of the old Yamen(the Tung Chung Fort). From this, it has been deduced that these six cannon did not originally belong to fort.
The fort has undergone several major repairs, the latest one being in 1988. This was a full restoration, aiming at strengthening and restoring
the walls back to its safe condition, recapturing he historical environment by rebuilding and conserving some of the original structures , and
providing additional visitor facilities including the setting up of an information centre. The work was completedin March 1989 through the expert
supervision of the Architectural Sercices Department. Tung Chung Fort had once been the Police Station of the Hong Kong Government, and
then later, Wah Ying Collage. During the Japanese Occupation, the fort had once been occupied by soldiers of the invasion force.
|
