Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village

Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village is a holiday village in the east of Shau Kei Wan, facing Lei Yue Mun, with an area of 22.97 hectares (0.2297 km2). It was formerly known as Lyemun Barracks, barracks for the British soldiers stationed in Hong Kong, before being converted into a holiday village. It is the only holiday camp owned by the government in the urban districts of Hong Kong (Hong Kong Island and Kowloon). History Early Construction Lyemun Barracks was named after the fishing village of Lei Yue Mun. The old Lyemun Barracks was one of the earliest and most important British Army fortifications in Hong Kong. Situated at the northeast corner of Hong Kong Island overlooking the eastern approach to the Victoria Harbour, Lei Yue Mun occupied a strategic position. It was for this reason that the British army had already constructed barracks on Sai Wan Hill just south of the coastline as early as 1844. However, the rampant spread of diseases such as malaria and dysentery at the time caused many soldiers and civilians to fall ill and die, leading the British forces to subsequently withdraw. Eventually, amid fears of potential incursions from Russia and France, the British army elected to build permanent infrastructure and fortifications at the entrance to the Lyemun Channel in 1885, with funds allocated by the then Governor of Hong Kong, Sir John Pope Hennessy. Later in 1889, the land was transferred to the War Department for the construction. The Barracks consisted mainly of three portions: The central area: Main Barracks (Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village) The western ridge: Upper Fort (Sai Wan Battery) The headland: (Lei Yue Mun Fort, now the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence, Pak Sha Wan Battery) The fortifications of Lei Yue Mun had already become an important point of coastal defence during the 1890s and continued to expand in the following decades. By the 1930s, however, the strategic importance of Lei Yue Mun had declined considerably as a result of technological and tactical advances. The main barracks in the central area were completed between 1889 and 1939. These barracks were primarily used as offices for the British military, soldier's quarters and training grounds until the British Army withdrew from the Lyemun Barracks in 1987 and the subsequent handover to the Government. Significance in World War II (1941–1945) The Japanese army commenced the attack on Hong Kong on 8 December 1941, and had forced all British regular and colonial troops to retreat from the New Territories and the Kowloon Peninsula to Hong Kong Island 5 days later on 13 December 1941. Lyemun Barracks became a focal point in the Japanese army's attack on Hong Kong Island. The coastline was defended by the 5th Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment along with the Royal Rifles of Canada. A small contingent of Canadian troops was stationed around the Lower Battery, while the artillery unit at Lyemun Barracks was composed of the Hong Kong Naval Volunteer Force and the Hong Kong-Singapore Royal Artillery. The upper battery section was defended by the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. The Japanese army began their artillery bombardment on December 14 from the opposite shore on Devil's Peak and made their first attempt to land the following evening, retreating without success. Between 16 December and 17 December, Hong Kong Island suffered heavy shelling, causing the roads from Central to Shau Kei Wan to be blocked by tram cables and debris. By the evening of 18 December 1941, the Lyemun barracks began to suffer a large-scale attack. At 8:30 that evening, the first wave of Japanese troops crossed the Lei Yue Mun channel and commenced attack on the barracks, followed by a second wave of Japanese troops two hours later. One battalion landed at Shau Kei Wan, while another deboarded next to the Lower Battery. The Japanese army eventually broke through the defense of the Indian troops to the west of the barracks after rounds of gunfire and occupied Mount Parker behind the barracks the next morning. Simultaneously, the Japanese troops that had landed at the dock were also advancing toward the Sai Wan Battery. The Canadian forces launched a full counterattack despite being heavily outnumbered. However, on 19 December 1941, the Barracks along with the Sai Wan Battery fell into the hands of the Japanese. At 7:45 PM, a detachment of Japanese soldiers along with collaborators, broke through the fence in a lorry, killing the British sentries at the Sai Wan Battery using bombs. The 29 remaining British soldiers were then locked in an ammunition magazine until around midnight, when the Japanese ordered them to come out, and proceeded to bayonet all of the soldiers. Two Chinese-British soldiers survived by hiding under the corpses, escaping successfully after four days of lying still amongst the corpses. There were counterattacks made by 'C' Company of the Royal Rifles of Canada to recapture the battery and the barracks during the 19th of December. However, the Japanese having the advantage of high ground and being well-entrenched rendered the counterattacks unsuccessful. Conversion to the Holiday Village The Barracks housed the Depot and Record Office of the Hong Kong Military Service Corps between 1948 and 1984, and since 1948 have been used as training grounds for the Royal Hong Kong Regiment. The Barracks were then handed over to the Government in 1987 upon the withdrawal of the British Army. The construction of the Island Eastern Corridor between August 1986 and October 1989 separated the headland from the main barracks and the western ridge. As a result, the main barracks were converted to the Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village in 1988 and was then opened to the public, while the headland was left isolated until the Lei Yue Mun Fort was converted into the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence in 2000. The Pak Sha Wan Battery and its nearby barracks remain isolated and is not open to the public to this day. The whole former barracks compound is graded as Grade I historic building because of its historic significance. The buildings of the compound are graded as Grade I and II historic buildings separately, however. SARS Outbreak During the outbreak of the Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, a larger cluster of cases in Hong Kong were focused on the Amoy Gardens housing estate, particularly in Block E. Its spread was later suspected to have been facilitated by defects in its drainage system, and it was subsequently discovered that fecal-oral transmission of SARS was possible. By March, the total number of infected people have reached over 200, 137 of those residing in Block E. By the end of the month, the government issued an order to transfer the remaining unaffected residents of Block E into isolation in the Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village and the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village in Sai Kung. The residents were subsequently returned to their homes after Hong Kong was removed from the World Health Organization (WHO)'s list of 'Affected Areas' in late-June 2003. Coronavirus In January 2020, SARS-CoV-2 emerged in Wuhan, China, and began spreading across the globe. By January 22nd, 2 confirmed cases of COVID-19 emerged in the SAR and the government set up two quarantine locations, the Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village and the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village. 5 citizens who came in close contact with the 2 victims of the coronavirus were put into isolation at one of the two quarantine camps. The facility consisting of 350 units was put into operation in July 2020, specifically for treating mild patients under the age of 50. The Holiday Village, now managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, will be closed from June 2026 onwards to commence demolition of the isolation facilities, and will aim to reopen to the public by October 2026. Buildings and facilities Facilities The holiday village include a total of 4 family hostels and 2 group hostels, all provided with balconies, bedrooms, and lavatories with showering facilities, accommodating the living of up to 282 people. It has transformed into a park/holiday village, with facilities such as rope courses, a horse-riding school (with a very steep hiking/hacking route up the nearby hillsides), tennis courts, basketball courts, football pitches, as well as other facilities for numerous indoor and outdoor entertainment. The barracks once housed by soldiers have now been transformed into small living quarters for the holiday village. Each block has a different purpose, providing different facilities for campers to enjoy, the most well-known being Block 10, the main Recreational Centre, and Block 7, the Coffee Corner. Buildings As the former Lyemun Barracks was constructed between the late 19th century and the early 20th century, the buildings inside the Holiday Camp were modelled on the European-style buildings at the time of their construction. Most buildings share a similar color scheme, with white as their primary color and light blue as their accent color, often found on window frames. The buildings were located across hillsides, with passageways linking them. Most of the buildings within the central area of Lyemun Barracks were converted into Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village, with a few exceptions. Block 8, which previously served as theouthouse connected to Block 7, has been left unused with the area listed as out of bounds and prohibited to enter, while Block 7 was converted into the Coffee Corner. Block 3, located diagonally from Block 4 (Canteen), was previously left unused and deactivated, with iron mesh surrounding the area and isolating it from the rest of the Holiday Village. In May 2016, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department proposed converting the then deactivated Block 3 into a quarantine facility, with the function to prevent epidemics from spreading in case of an outbreak. The conversion would be scheduled to undergo in late-2017 to 2019. However, even with the building re-painted, it is still unclear whether the proposed plan went through as the facility was never opened to the public. As a result, its current status remains unknown. Block 7's Renovation and the History of the Royal Artillery Barracks In between January and July 2018, Block 7, the 'Coffee Corner', underwent renovation procedures to improve the building's interior. The Coffee Corner was reopened in August 2018 with major changes to the floor, replacing plastic texture sheets with polished wood tiles. Parts of walls and pillars were fitted with dark marble coatings, and general lighting improvements. This renovation also introduced drawings hung on walls, depicting the layout of the previously known Royal Artillery Barracks, housing soldiers of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. This includes the Soldiers' Barracks (Block 10), Officers' Barracks (Block 7), Outhouses (Block 8, Block 11, Block 12, Block 13), Married Quarters (Demolished) and the Guard House (Demolished). These illustrations show each building's exterior and interior structure in their days as the earliest constructed buildings of Lyemun Barracks, presumably prior to 1935, when Block 10 was extended subsequent to the demolition of the Married Quarters, which occupied said space. Block 9, being absent from these illustrations, is presumably yet to be constructed at the time of the residential period of the Royal Artillery Army. Based on these illustrations, it can be deduced that during the process of conversion into the Holiday Village, some structures had to be altered to cater to the building's new purposes. Block 7's original structure consisted of individual rooms as opposed to the current design, having a wider, central area with several smaller rooms on the sides. Roof slates were also present on most buildings and structures within the barracks, but have since been removed after World War II. Numbers After The Battle of Hong Kong and World War II, buildings within the former Lyemun Barracks were assigned numbers during their time as training grounds for the Royal Hong Kong Regiment. As such, the Married Quarters and Guard House of the Royal Artillery Barracks were never assigned numbers as they were demolished around 1935. These buildings have had their assigned numbers painted on their exterior in noticeable places for easier identification. Certain historic buildings have had their year of completion inscribed convexly, which includes Blocks 2, 3, 10 (Extension in 1935), 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34. Although most buildings within the Holiday Village have retained these numbers, due to maintenance of exteriors and re-painting, some buildings have had their numbers removed in the process or replaced with more modern fonts. Pak Sha Wan Battery In August 1986, the construction of the Island Eastern Corridor commenced the third and final phase, connecting Aldrich Bay and the private housing estate Heng Fa Chuen, which is under construction at the time. The Island Eastern Corridor, which was completed in would pass through A Kung Ngam, separating the main barracks and Sai Wan Battery to the west, with the Lei Yue Mun Fort and Pak Sha Wan Battery to the East. The road travelling north towards the pier at Aldrich Bay and the connecting road towards the headland were both cut off upon completion of the expressway in October 1989. Block 36, which was situated at the junction of the connecting roads was demolished during the construction of the expressway as a result. A bridge was built over the Island Eastern Corridor afterwards to connect the main area to the headland, however the buildings and structures in the headland were left isolated until 2000, when the Lei Yue Mun Fort was converted to the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence. With the main barracks converted to the Holiday Village in 1988, the bridge along with the Pak Sha Wan Battery and its surrounding barracks were left abandoned to this day. Maintenance in this area is poor, with structures in a state of disrepair and roads covered in fallen leaves and tree branches. Block 1, the 'Changing Room' Block 1 appears as a green and white structure consisting of closed rooms and 4 courtyards. It was constructed around 1939 along with Blocks 2 and 3 and was used as a Changing Room for soldiers adjacent to a rectangular pool along with a hot tub (which have both been filled with concrete). Block 1's structure remains intact, though in poor condition, with glass pieces and layers of dried up paint scattered across the rooms, with broken doors and rusted shower pipes. Several signs pasted on the walls and pillars have also deteriorated and not legible. Prior to the construction of the Island Eastern Corridor, Block 1 was connected to the central area and the main barracks by means of a footpath next to Block 2, in which footpath has since been cut off by the expressway. Block 44, the 'Sniper Room' Block 44 is a 2-storey barracks room within the area around the Pak Sha Wan Battery. Block 44 resembles a sniper ranch with a round window near the roof of the front wall. The white structure remains intact with significant evidence of deterioration, with chipped paint on walls peeled off and broken floor tiles. The impaired condition shared by these isolated and deactivated buildings is a drastic comparison to the buildings converted into parts of the holiday village, in addition to its proof of the barracks' lengthy history. Block 44 was also previously used as the Public Works Department (PWD) Office before it was abandoned. Structures and historic buildings The whole compound was graded as a Grade I historic structure, while some buildings were graded as Grade I and Grade II individually, these ratings were confirmed on 18 December 2009. Three of the buildings in the Holiday Village were declared historical monument on 20 May 2016 and are now protected under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance. This includes Block 7, Block 10 and Block 25. The following are all structures of the former Lyemun Barracks, some of them graded as Historic Buildings. Number Location Note: [Original] implies that the number was painted on by soldiers since their construction, [Replica] implies that it was re-printed on using a different font, represented by [Font]. References External links Official website