Wat Monthop is a defunct temple located off the main island in the southeastern area of Ayutthaya, in the Suan Phlu Sub-district.
It is situated on land belonging to Wat Phanan Choeng and is used as a crematorium. A vast Chinese graveyard surrounds the remains of this former monastery. The monastery was close to the road at the entrance of the crematorium.
The establishment of the monastery nor its history is known.
Wat Monthop on the maps
Wat Monthop features on the drafted map of Engelbert Kaempfer. Kaempfer (1651-1716 CE) was a medical doctor working for the Dutch VOC (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) who surveyed the city of Ayutthaya in June 1690 CE. The monastery stood east of the village surrounding the Dutch Settlement.
Wat Monthop shows on Phraya Boran Rachathanin's map drafted in 1926 CE. Wat Phanan Choeng stood north Wat Khok was east, and Wat Khom was west. The Dutch VOC lodge was southwest. Phraya Boran (1871-1936 CE) was the Superintendent Commissioner of Monthon Ayutthaya from 1925 to 1929 CE but occupied important functions since 1896 CE in Monthon Ayutthaya.
Based on a 2007 CE Fine Arts Department GIS map, the monastery should have been located in geographical coordinates: 14° 20' 33.06" N, 100° 34' 45.18" E.
The former temple premises came in the news in October 2013 CE, when the temple committee of Wat Phanan Choeng decided that the remains of more than 1600 people in the traditional Chinese graveyard needed to be exhumed to turn the area into a car park and to allow the construction of a building for convalescing monks. [1]
There are two other monasteries with an identical name in the City District: Wat Monthop on Ko Loi in the Hua Ro Sub-district and Wat Monthop (defunct) in the Phukhao Thong Sub-district.
References:
[1] The Nation - 11 October 2013 - Temple wants remains from graveyard removed.
