WAT KHOK KHEMI





Wat Khok Khemi was located in the southern part of Ayutthaya’s city island in the Pratu Chai Sub-district, east of Somdet Phra Sri Nakharin Park. The monastery was situated between Khlong Chakrai Yai (1) and Khlong Chakrai Noi (2).


It stood near Wat Khok Khema and east of Wat Hip. Wat Prasat stood east, while Wat Khok Yai Mi was situated south, closest to the present Chao Phraya River.


The temple stood on what is now the Ayutthaya Hospital. There are no traces anymore visible of the monastery above ground level.


Historical data about the monastery and its construction are unknown.


Wat Khok Khemi on the maps:


I presume that on a 19th-century map by an unknown surveyor, this site is shown as Wat Noi (วัดน้อย).


The monastery is indicated on Phraya Boran Rachathanin's (PBR) map drafted in 1926 CE. The temple is north of what PBR mentions as Thanon Rong Krai (street). On his map, Wat Khok Khemi and Wat Khok Khema are located in a cluster on a mound, as part of their names indicates (Th: Khok = mound). Phraya Boran (1871-1936 CE) was the Superintendent Commissioner of Monthon Ayutthaya from 1925 till 1929 CE but occupied already important functions since 1896 CE in Monthon Ayutthaya.


Some remains of the temple were excavated by the Fine Arts Department (FAD) in geographical coordinates: 14° 20' 35.80" N, 100° 33' 34.99" E. (based on the 2007 map).


Footnotes:


(1) Khlong Chakrai Yai is part of a waterway running through the west of Ayutthaya from north to south. The canal was the extension of Khlong Pak Tho and ran from the Lam Hoei Bridge to the Chakrai Yai Gate opposite Wat Phutthaisawan. The canal was a shortcut through the oxbow of the Lopburi River and connected the old Lopburi River, present Khlong Mueang in the north with - what is today - the Chao Phraya River in the south. Ban Chakrai was a village located on the city island but outside the city walls.

(2) Khlong Chakrai Noi is a defunct canal of which some small stretches remain on the premises of the Rajaphat Institute, south of Rojana Road. The premises of the Sam Chao Phraya Museum also show a stretch of water, but here the old canal has been probably altered. Khlong Chakrai Noi had its mouth in the loop of the old Lopburi River around the city, a stretch that became the Chao Phraya River in the 19th century due to deviation works.