Check Point | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Check Point

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Check Point
Submitted by Andrew Suddaby
Authors: 
Malcolm Trousdale

Can anyone identify which of the checkpoints this might have been? The building has a tall barbed wire fence in front of it, so it was probably a military one, and the checkpoint seems to have been a temporary one. The car's registration number is 7303.

Gallery: 
Trousdale, Malcolm (1951-53)
Connections: 
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Comments

Submitted by David on Mon, 2019-05-06 11:34.

There's a small sign at the right of the road. At full zoom it looks to have "HKP" on the top, so maybe the building is a police station?

Submitted by moddsey on Mon, 2019-05-06 12:18.

I noted the HKP sign too. At first I thought it was the Pat Heung Police Station but the mountain behind disproves this notion. May be Castle Peak Police Station but I have not seen old photos of it. These police stations were built in the late 40s and early 50s and were more or less the same design.

I also note in suziepie’s video screenshots of the drive around the NT, a police station can be seen.

 

Submitted by Andrew Suddaby on Mon, 2019-05-06 16:46.

I've been wondering why Malcolm would take a photograph of a checkpoint.  In 1958 one of my pals hired a car for the day from one of the Sergeants on the camp. This was all unofficiai and I have sometimes wondered whether the insurance covered him.  Hoiwever, ths enabled us to drive 'the circuit' of the New Territories and several of the colour slides in my 1957/8 gallery were taken on that day.  It is very possible that all Malcolm's photographs taken in the Castle Peak area and beyond were as a result of a similar car journey. and not as I previously wrote one done by public transport.  If so, their car being stopped at a police checkpoint would be sufficient for Malcolm to record this, to us, rather unusual event - and of course ti could have happened anywhere, but most likely on the circuit of the New Territories.  Andrew

Submitted by philk on Mon, 2019-05-06 18:31.

I'm not sure how many spots there are in the NT where the main road sits so close to what looks like quite a steep hill. If this is a round NT trip then it should be easy to discount most places.

Submitted by Andrew Suddaby on Tue, 2019-05-07 01:42.

Thanks Phil.

I cannot be certain that it was a round the New Territories drive, but it is very likely. Is it possible that the photograph might have been taken in Kowloon or the outskirts, where there were quite a lot of hills, some with steep sides, quite close to the roads?

Regards, Andrew

 

Submitted by moddsey on Sun, 2019-05-12 17:11.

This may be the scene in the opposite direction. 

1950s Castle Peak Police Station - Police Checkpoint
1950s NT Checkpoint, by Moddsey

Submitted by Andrew Suddaby on Sun, 2019-05-12 18:54.

An interesting suggestion. At first sight it does look to be the same place but I think that there are several differences - the front of the building seems to lack a porch and at least two of the front windows have small 'fan lights'. The hill appears to be descending to the left behind the building, whereas on Bill's photograph it it very high there.  It looks as though the two children might be standing on a bridge but, if that is the case, it would only be over a very narrow ditch or stream, so that isn't likely to be much help!

Submitted by philk on Mon, 2019-05-13 20:04.

actually, I think it may be the same place. The question is where? Is there a list of Police Stations available for the 1950's?

Submitted by David on Wed, 2019-05-15 14:05.

Yes, it looks like the same building to me too.

I haven't seen a list of Police Stations, but the 1952 map has them marked. (The link shows Ta Ku Ling Police Station as an example, but that's surrounded by flat land so isn't a match.)

Submitted by moddsey on Wed, 2019-05-15 15:32.

Looked at the 1952 Map. Castle Peak Police Station is adjacent to a high hill.

Submitted by Andrew Suddaby on Thu, 2019-05-16 04:15.

Thank you everyone. If the Castle Peak Road police station was the one at Wong Ka Wai just North of milestone 20, that would be a distinct possibility.  The very high hill/mountain behind Malcolm’s  photograph looks right and there are several more of his photographs taken in that area. Andrew

Submitted by philk on Thu, 2019-05-16 10:54.

There is a very distinctive bend in Moddsey's reverse view that doesn't tie up with Castle Peak police station. Plus, I know the older map buildings marked aren't necessarily to scale but some effort seems to have gone into at least making the building shapes a little more detailed. The police station on the map just looks like a tiny regular box rather than the extended structure seen on the photo.

Edit: is it possible the HKP sign was for the checkpoint only and the large building was a military installation?

Submitted by Andrew Suddaby on Sat, 2019-05-18 01:05.

An interesting dilemma. I’m away from home with poor access to the Internet and no access to my own computer. On Malcolm’s photo, I notice that either there appears to be a wall immediately in front of any door below the porch or that the doorway has been blocked off.  There are also two flag poles - usually just one would do, and there is a strange pole on the right with rungs(?) up,it. The latter might be of interest to any aerial erectors in the Gwulo community, who might know whether it was police or military?

My error. The pole on the left has a loudspeaker on it so,it is not a flag pole.

Submitted by philk on Thu, 2019-05-16 14:42.

Following on from this post, it looks as though is building quite possibly is a Police Station after all. However, I am also equally convinced it's not in Tsuen Wan either. See the image below for the old Tsuen Wan station.

(former) Tsuen Wan Police Station
Tsuen Wan Police Station.png, by Philk

Submitted by tngan on Fri, 2019-05-17 22:38.

Hi There,

If we just concentrate on the building itself, this one looked very much like the Pat Heung Police Station just posted earlier today.  If there are a few more police station using the same blueprints for construction then we should be able to narrow down the location.

T

Submitted by Andrew Suddaby on Sat, 2019-05-18 01:08.

Hi T. I shall leave it to you experts to sort this one out - but I shall follow the dialogue with interest!  Regards,Andrew

Submitted by David on Thu, 2019-05-23 15:30.

Guy Shirra kindly posted this to the FB group, "The Royal Hong Kong Police Force", where several ex-HK policemen identified it as the Castle Peak Police Station.

The police station in this photo was newer and a bit further south than the one on the 1952 map, see: https://gwulo.com/node/45964

Submitted by philk on Thu, 2019-05-23 16:05.

many thanks David and Guy.

Submitted by Andrew Suddaby on Thu, 2019-05-23 16:39.

Thank you everyone.  Castle Peak it is!

Submitted by moddsey on Thu, 2019-09-26 05:21.
1950s Castle Peak Police Station
1950s Castle Peak Police Station, by Moddsey

Submitted by moddsey on Tue, 2019-12-31 07:32.

A colour photo of the Castle Peak Police Station-cum-Checkpoint can be viewed  here