Old well-house in Stanley [????-c.1975]
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Does anyone know about this, and can give any firm location? (The marker location above is not accurate) Any photos would also be good to see.
Phil found it mentioned in an article by David Leith titled “Hong Kong’s Colonial Buildings from a Century and more ago” that appeared in Issue 10 of the Peninsula Magazine Article, dated 10 April 1977:
The fate of many of Hong Kong’s buildings seems to follow the same path to oblivion as did the smallest and perhaps oldest of its buildings. For about 134 years, a six-sided stone house stood beside the main road in Stanley peninsula. It was situated over a well in the very first military fort in Stanley and its size was probably not as great as its importance to the fort. It would have played a part in the terrible plague that struck the fort in 1844, and another in 1860, which finally persuaded the army to abandon the fort as hopelessly unhealthy.
A private school now stands where the fort once did and only a stone wall and marks of the foundation of the officer’s mess remain. The small well house was bulldozed to make way for a fence less than two years ago. The school was not aware of what the building was.
A couple of maps of the Military Cantonment at Stanley from 1844 and 1853 both show two wells on the west side of the site, not far from the beach.
Stanley cantonment reduced.jpg, by UKNA
It isn't clear whether either of them is the well that Leith refers to above.
