foundations, and were wide enough, and high enough, to be a real defence. The walls were all single about twelve feet high: since the village houses were all single-storied, with the eaves at about ten feet above the ground level, only the roof-ridges of the houses could be seen from outside the walls (a very accurate and detailed drawing of the village and its environs, made in 1846 by Lt. Collinson from the summit of Sha Tin pass, shows several houses outside the walls, but within the walls only the roof-ridges appear: see copy attached). The walls here, as elsewhere in the New Territories, were formed of carefully mortared blue brick walls to front and rear, with rubble infill between them, set in mortar.
Each of the four corners of the walled enclosure were defended by towers. These towers stood some twenty-five feet high, and were two-storied. They had flat roofs, reached by ladders from within the structure. The towers protruded into the moat on both sides.
According to the elders, the village had six guns - small iron cannon and brass jingals. Each corner tower had one, and the gun-chamber over the gatehouse had two. The guns at the gun-chamber were, it is believed, cannon, while the guns at the corner towers were jingals. The gun-chamber had two round gun-ports for the cannon to fire through, and the cannon here were permanently mounted. Gunpowder was stored behind the guns in this chamber. The jingals were usually dismounted, and stored in the gun-chamber with their ammunition. They could be mounted at short notice, if needed1.
The enclosure was carefully set out to the optimum Fung Shui direction, facing nearly south-southeast. With the heavy development of East Kowloon in the last half-century, it is no longer possible to be certain what the Fung Shui factors were which led Lai Po-yi to set the village out to this direction.
Within the walled enclosure, six cross lanes were set out along the width of the enclosure, and three transverse lanes, one just inside the north and south walls, and the third as a spinal lane down the centre of the enclosure. The first and last lanes run through to dead ends against the inner face of the walls. These lanes were very narrow (only just wide enough for two people to pass in the centre lane, and even narrower in the other lanes). Off these lanes there were, in 1902, some 140 houses or house-sites plus the temple and Village Office (some
16
foundations, and were wide enough, and high enough, to be a real defence. The walls
were all single about twelve feet high: since the village houses
were all single-storied, with the eaves at about ten feet above the ground level, only the roof-ridges of the houses could be seen from outside the walls (a very accurate and detailed drawing of the village and its environs, made in 1846 by Lt. Collinson from the summit of Sha Tin pass, shows several houses outside the walls, but within the walls only the roof-ridges appear: see copy attached). The walls here, as else- where in the New Territories, were formed of carefully mortared blue brick walls to front and rear, with rubble infill between them, set in mortar.
Each of the four corners of the walled enclosure were defended by towers. These towers stood some twenty-five feet high, and were two- storied. They had flat roofs, reached by ladders from within the structure. The towers protruded into the moat on both sides.
According to the elders, the village had six guns - small iron can- non and brass jingals. Each corner tower had one, and the gun-cham- ber over the gatehouse had two. The guns at the gun-chamber were, it is believed, cannon, while the guns at the corner towers were jingals. The gun-chamber had two round gun-ports for the cannon to fire through, and the cannon here were permanently mounted. Gunpowder was stored behind the guns in this chamber. The jingals were usually dismounted, and stored in the gun-chamber with their ammunition. They could be mounted at short notice, if needed1.
***The enclosure was carefully set out to the optimum Fung Shui direction, facing nearly south-southeast. With the heavy development of East Kowloon in the last half-century, it is no longer possible to be certain what the Fung Shui factors were which led Lai Po-yi to set the village out to this direction.
Within the walled enclosure, six cross lanes were set out along the width of the enclosure, and three transverse lanes, one just inside the north and south walls, and the third as a spinal lane down the centre of
the enclosure. The first andnes run through to dead ends
against the inner face of the walls. These lanes were very narrow (only just wide enough for two people to pass in the centre lane, and even narrower in the other lanes). Off these lanes there were, in 1902, some 140 houses or house-sites plus the temple and Village Office (some
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