POM PRATU KHAO PLUEAK





Pom Pratu Khao Plueak was a fort at Pratu Khao Plueak, or the Gate of Unhusked Rice, a water gate. The construction of the bastion was in the form of an open book located on both sides of the canal. This fort was one of the many forts (1) of the city of which Pom Phet, or the ‘Diamond Fort’ in the Bang Kraja area at the confluence of the present Chao Phraya and Pa Sak Rivers, was the largest and most important.


There were arched entry doors in the wall permitting pedestrian access to the city. Just behind the fort stood Wat Ratcha Praditsathan and Wat Tha Sai, located respectively on the west and east banks of Khlong Pratu Khao Plueak (2). A stretch of water that was once part of Khlong Pratu Khao Plueak can be found on the premises of Wat Ratcha Praditsathan.


The crenulations on top of the fort, providing cover for soldiers manning the wall, are still present and probably designed by Father Tomasa Valguarnera, a Jesuit priest from Sicily (3).


The city walls, built in the reign of King Narai (1656-1688 CE), were 1.5 meters wide and 6.5 meters high from ground level up to the crenulations. [2]


In front of the fort near Wat Tha Sai was a ferry landing connected to the landing at Wat Wong Khong.


At the mouth of Khlong Pratu Khao Plueak stands a brick chedi right along the river bank.





(View of Pom Pratu Khao Plueak - Aug 2021)



Footnotes:


(1) The Khamhaikan Chao Krung Kao (Testimony of the Inhabitants of the Old Capital) put the number of forts at 16. In contrast, the Khamhaikan Khun Luang Wat Pradu Songtham (Testimony of the King from Wat Pradu Songtham) gave 22, probably including the forts of the Grand Palace. The Athibai Phaenthi Phra Nakhon Sri Ayutthaya (Description of Ayutthaya) states 12 forts but only mentions 11. The different numbers could also be attributed to whether double bastions were counted as a single fort or two forts.

(2) Khlong Pratu Khao Plueak, or the ‘Canal of the Gate of Unmilled Rice’, was part of a waterway running through the middle of Ayutthaya from north to south. The canal, a shortcut in the oxbow of the Lopburi River, ran until the Chikun Bridge and continued to the Chinese water gate (Pratu Jin). It was filled up somewhere in the early 20th century.

(3) Fr. Tomasa Valguarnera arrived from Macau in 1655 CE and remained in Siam for 15 years. Valguarnera was an architect who built the Jesuit residence and San Paolo Church within the Portuguese settlement. He rebuilt the city walls of Ayutthaya at the request of King Narai until 1670 CE, when he was appointed a Visitator of the Japanese and Chinese Province and left Siam. He returned to Siam in 1675 CE and again was occupied with rebuilding the walls of Ayutthaya until his death in Ayutthaya in 1677 CE.


References:


[1] Cerutti, Pietro S.J. The Jesuits in Thailand. Part I (1607-1767).

[2] Charnvit Kasetsiri & Michael Wright (2007). Discovering Ayutthaya. Toyota Thailand Foundation. pp. 320-1.