| TALAD CHIN BRIDGE |
Saphan Talad Chin or the "Bridge of the Chinese Market" is located on the City Island
at Tambon Pratu Chai.
The brick bridge was built over Khlong Pratu Jin (also called Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak
in the northern stretch) which connected the old Lopburi River (later Khlong Muang or
City Canal) in the north (near Wat Tha Sai) with the Chao Phraya River in the south at
Pratu Chin. This canal was filled in last century and as thus at present inexistent, with the
exception of a small stretch of water between Wat Tha Sai and Wat Rachapraditsathan,
close to its former mouth, called Pratu Khao Pluak. Only some brick work of the former
bridges remain as a last witness of the past.
The bridge linked the Moorish quarter with the Chinese quarter on the island. Major
Chinese communities were located in the east of Ayutthaya and lived on both banks of
the Pa Sak River. Close in its vicinity towards Pratu Jin was a Chinese market selling
enameled brass [1].
Brick work of the arched bridge still can be seen in situ. The site is located south of the
brick work of the Chikun Bridge, an easy to find location near the round point in central
Ayutthaya.
Johannes Vingboons (c.1616 - 1670), a Dutch cartographer, created a painting named
"Afbeldinge der stadt Iudiad Hooft des Choonincrick Siam" published in Vingboons
Atlas around 1665. Although the city’s shape is distorted in this painting, the "Bridge of
the Chinese Market" can clearly be seen.
References:
[1] Discovering Ayutthaya - Charnvit Kasetsiri & Michael Wright (2007) - page 149.
at Tambon Pratu Chai.
The brick bridge was built over Khlong Pratu Jin (also called Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak
in the northern stretch) which connected the old Lopburi River (later Khlong Muang or
City Canal) in the north (near Wat Tha Sai) with the Chao Phraya River in the south at
Pratu Chin. This canal was filled in last century and as thus at present inexistent, with the
exception of a small stretch of water between Wat Tha Sai and Wat Rachapraditsathan,
close to its former mouth, called Pratu Khao Pluak. Only some brick work of the former
bridges remain as a last witness of the past.
The bridge linked the Moorish quarter with the Chinese quarter on the island. Major
Chinese communities were located in the east of Ayutthaya and lived on both banks of
the Pa Sak River. Close in its vicinity towards Pratu Jin was a Chinese market selling
enameled brass [1].
Brick work of the arched bridge still can be seen in situ. The site is located south of the
brick work of the Chikun Bridge, an easy to find location near the round point in central
Ayutthaya.
Johannes Vingboons (c.1616 - 1670), a Dutch cartographer, created a painting named
"Afbeldinge der stadt Iudiad Hooft des Choonincrick Siam" published in Vingboons
Atlas around 1665. Although the city’s shape is distorted in this painting, the "Bridge of
the Chinese Market" can clearly be seen.
References:
[1] Discovering Ayutthaya - Charnvit Kasetsiri & Michael Wright (2007) - page 149.
| Text & photographs by Tricky Vandenberg - October 2009 |
| (Reworked extract from Phraya Boran Rachathanin's map drafted in 1926) |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |