AYUTTHAYA HISTORICAL RESEARCH



WAT KRATOE





Wat Kratoe (1) was located off the city island, in the southern area of Ayutthaya, in the Samphao Lom Sub-district. (2)


The monastery stood south of Wat Phutthaisawan, roughly aligned with Wat Tamnak and Wat Noina.


During my extensive research on foot in and around Ayutthaya from 2008 to 2011 CE, I found no traces of this temple, and conversations with locals yielded no insight. I finally concluded that there were no traces of the monastery above ground level, and based on various maps, I believed the site was part of the grounds of Wat Phutthaisawan.


On 28 August 2026 CE, Chorpech Nunoi, the admin of the Preserve Culture Group on Facebook, emailed me that the geographical coordinates of Wat Kratoe on this webpage were not correct.


She found the exact position of the former temple and stated that no other traces remain besides scattered brick walkways, as the area has been levelled and ploughed. The entire area has been converted into residential land. I believe that traces of brick foundations likely remain in the subsurface.


Most of the monastic structures in the area were dismantled by locals in the 1950s, when demand for bricks in Bangkok was high. The local administration encouraged the collection of bricks, and bricks from various temples were auctioned for resale, to the point that even contracts from the Department of Public Works and the municipality once specified the use of broken bricks from Ayutthaya. The Department of Religious Affairs even openly organised the excavation and sale of bricks from old temples. (Prayoon, 2527)


Nunoi interviewed a local landowner who recounted that: "In the past, it was all forest. My father cleared the land. In those days, he marked the boundaries as his own. Currently, this land belongs to the temple, but the land deed lists it as an abandoned temple."


When he was a child, a large number of human bones were unearthed at Wat Kratoe. The area near the Wiang Lek Pier (2) was where bodies were brought to be cremated in Wiang Lek. All the bodies were unclaimed corpses from the provincial hospital (4) on the opposite bank.



Historical data about the monastery and its construction are unknown.


The 'Description of Ayutthaya', a document probably compiled early in the Bangkok era from the memories of people who had lived in Ayutthaya before 1767 CE, mentioned that Wat Kratoe stood near Oil Press Village, where sesame oil and 'luk mai' oil (5) were extracted and sold. [1]


The monastery is shown as Wat Katoe (วัดกะเต่อ) on the 1974 CE Fine Arts Department (FAD) map. The 1993 CE FAD map does not name the site, while the 2007 CE map lists it as Wat Kratoe.


Based on Nunoi's input, the site was at the geographical coordinates: 14° 20' 19.6" N, 100° 33' 38.5" E.


Footnotes:


(1) In Thai, กระเต่อ is used as an adjective meaning “short, stunted, truncated,” often describing something cut off or incomplete. Wat Kratoe likely refers to a temple associated with something short, cut off, or incomplete—possibly a prang, chedi, or Buddha image that was damaged or left unfinished.

(2) Sub-district called after the village Ban Samphao Lom near the Chao Phraya River. The village is on the Monthon Krung Kao map (1916 CE). John Bowring (1857, London, John W. Parker and Son, West Strand), in his book ‘The Kingdom and People of Siam’, wrote: "Between the modern and the ancient capital, Bangkok and Ayuthia, is a village called the “Sunken Ship,” the houses being erected round a mast which towers above the surface at low water."

(3) Likely Tha Rap. The 'Description of Ayutthaya' mentions that at Flat Landing Village, people act as agents for the sale of phaniang water pots with ears that Chinese, Khaek, French, English, Dutch, and Portuguese traders buy for holding indigo and lime. (Baker, 2011)

(4) The provincial hospital here is the new hospital on U Thong Road, built in 1940 CE, replacing the Panchamathirat Uthit Hospital, established in 1912 CE by Phraya Boran Ratchathanin and, at that time, situated opposite Chao Phrom Market.

(5) 'Luk mai' oil, also called 'Samrong' oil, was made from the 'Sterculia foetida', a type of chestnut, also called bastard poon tree, hazel sterculia, or wild almond.


References:


[1] Baker, Chris (2011). Before Ayutthaya Fell: Economic Life in an Industrious Society. Markets and Production in the City of Ayutthaya before 1767: Translation and Analysis of Part of the Description of Ayutthaya. Journal of the Siam Society. Vol. 99. p. 53, footnote 36, and p. 56.



MAPS



Map 1 - Detail of a 1974 CE Fine Arts Department map. Courtesy of Dr Surat Lertlum, Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy.
Map 2 - Detail of a 1993 CE Fine Arts Department map. Courtesy of Khun Supot Prommanot, Director of the 3rd Regional Office of Fine Arts.
Map 3 - Detail of a 2007 CE Fine Arts Department GIS map. Courtesy of the Fine Arts Department 3rd Region.
Map 4 - Google Earth.



When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.
(Alexis de Tocqueville)





HISTORY OF AYUTTHAYA



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