| WAT THA MA (วัดท่าม้า) |
| Wat Tha Ma (also known as Wat Tha Lak) is located on the property of a Women's Dormitory on the southern side of U-Thong Road. It is visible from this road, but a gate However, males are sometimes steered away from the site to protect the safety of the female residents. This temple was located along Khlong Pratu Jin, which flowed with an east-west axis. Khlong Nai Kai (Khlong Makham Riang), which flowed north to south, was located just east of this temple, which gave Wat Tha Ma a more strategic location. Its name refers to the "Monastery of the Horse Landing". It could likely be a spot where horse were taken off ships and transported to stables on land. Note: horse stables and Wat Khok Ma were located on the northern side of Khlong Nai Kai. There may have been a connection between the two temples given their names. It isn't clear when Wat Tha Ma was originally founded. Chinese maritime traders settled in this area in abundance, and a road known as China Street once passed by this temple. China Street is documented on the French map by Sieur de La Mare (1751). Engelbert Kaempfer added in 1727 that China Street was made of brick and included some of the best house in the city (p 44). In addition to the Chinese population, these houses also belonged to French, Dutch, Muslim, and English merchants. The first tourist map by the Fine Arts Department (1957) places Constantine Phaulkon's house just east of Wat Tha Ma (at a mounded location presently sealed off with barbed wire). There are no observable walls of foundations today. The shrine that could be seen from the road consisted of one fully intact Buddha image with a decapitated head lying in front. A tin roof protects both of them. A number of sections from disembodied Buddha images can be seen in the bushes near this shrine. The modern neighborhood has a large Chinese-Thai population, mostly from a Teochiu background. They lived on boats along the river, mostly profiting from the rice trade, before they started to move onto land to buy property - not made available for purchase until 1936. During the post-Ayutthaya period, a teacher training college for women was located nearby. This may be why this old temple is situated on a women's dormitory property today. |
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| Text by Ken May - May 2009 Photographs by Tricky Vandenberg |
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| Addendum Wat Tha Ma or the Monastery of the Landing of the Horse features on Phraya Boran Rachathanin's map drafted in 1926 and on an older, 19th century map. The latter indicates no existence of a chedi or prang. Both maps put the monastery in the same location. The site is located in geographical coordinates: 14° 20' 55.21" N, 100° 34' 29.59" E. |
| Addendum & maps by Tricky Vandenberg - November 2010 Updated October 2015 |
| (Buddha shrine on the site of Wat Tha Ma) |
| (Broken Buddha images in situ) |
| (Detail of a 19th century map - map is orientated S-N) |
| (Detail of Phraya Boran Rachathanin's map - Anno 1926) |
| (Detail of a 2007 Fine Arts Department GIS map - Courtesy of the Fine Arts Department - 3th Region) |
