RAS-2002 — Page 168

101

SURVEY OF THE DEVIL'S PEAK REDOUBT

AND

GOUGH BATTERY

LAWRENCE LAI WAI CHUNG, DANIEL HO CHI WING AND LEUNG HING FUNG

Purpose of this note

1

This short note presents the key land and building survey findings about the existing physical forms of the sites and building structures for the redoubt (the Devil's Peak Redoubt) and Gough Battery on Devil's Peak,1 an ex-British military site in Hong Kong. It elaborates from a surveying point of view on pioneer works of Bard (1988); Ko and Wordie (1996); and Ko (2001) known to the authors.

Background of survey

Conducted in June, July, August, and November 2002 by a local chartered land surveyor, the said survey was sponsored by a grant obtained by the first two authors from the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust. This grant has been awarded for a study of the disused military sites on Devil's Peak as part of the heritage of Hong Kong and to promote their conservation and better future use.

Part of the study is the detailed land surveying and filming2 of four clusters of sites. They are the Devil's Peak Redoubt on the highest ground of Devil's Peak (generally at about 222m), which has a satellite pentagonal pillbox3 with loopholes of the same design adopted for the firing walls of the redoubt; a site at 196 m further down (possibly an observation and fire command post) along the ridge line of Devil's Peak; the Gough Battery (at about 160 m); and the Pottinger Battery (at about 81 m). Figure 1 shows the present environment of Devil's Peak, Figure 2 shows a bird's eye view of the redoubt, the 196 m site, and Gough Battery.

A dugout connects the redoubt and the 196m site and there was an old military path that linked the latter site with the Gough Battery. The Kwun Tong District Board has re-paved this path, converted the mud track from Gough Battery to the redoubt into a cement path, and