Built in 1860s with mud and rocks at the hillside of Pat Sin Leng, this ancient trail was the main track that connected the villagers of four ancient villages for travelling between Tai Po and Sha Tau Kok. This path that linked up old villages is known as Wang Tsat Ancient Trail, which goes through Wang Shan Keuk Ha Tsuen, Wang Shan Keuk Sheung Tsuen and Tsat Muk Kiu Sheung Tsuen and Ha Tsuen. Only desolated houses and broken walls are left in this area. One could only imagine how things were from the scattered remnants. There are streams and relics of terraced fields at Wang Shan Keuk Ha Tsuen. The boulder trackway at Wang Shan Keuk Sheung Tsuen is well preserved and does not differ much from 100 years ago. The lintel of the ancestral hall in the village and its horizontal plaque with the characters of “Chan’s Ancestral Hall” written in black over a red background are still erected next to the ancient trail. Sadly, colours have already faded, and the walls of the ancestral hall and other village huts have collapsed.
In the old days, this was where Hakka people settled to farm. Materials were sourced locally and built into boulder trackways, stream crossing bridges and houses. A Hip Tin Kung (a temple) and an ancestral hall were built in the village in its heyday. The four villages once flourished, with “Kiu Shan School” set up in Tsat Muk Kiu Ha Tsuen. Some said that it was converted from a “Shui Yuet Kung” (Kwun Yam Temple). On Wang Shan Keuk and at a hill pass that runs through Ha Tsuen, there is a Kwan Tai Temple (Hip Tin Kung). Therefore, this pass is known as “Kwan Ye Pass” by villagers.
Some said that villagers have moved out in the 1960s and settled in Wang Shan Keuk Sun Tsuen in the Kwan Tei section of Sha Tau Kok Road. Today, the ancient trail in the countryside has become a popular tourist spot. Tsat Muk Kiu Sheung Tsuen and Ha Tsuen have vanished in the lush forest with the passage of time.
The route on this website is introduced to be conveniently accessible by public transport, which may differ from the actual alignment of the ancient trail.
