Wat Pa Fuk, or the Monastery of the Mattress Quarter, was situated in the southwestern area of Ayutthaya’s city island in the vicinity of the Somdet Phra Sri Nakharin Park in the Pratu Chai Sub-district. The location is part of the Ayutthaya Historical Park.
The site is indicated on a 19th-century map by an unknown surveyor. The monastery was situated on the east bank of Khlong Chakrai Yai (1), opposite Wat Bot. Wat Khok Yai Mi (defunct) was located in the south, Wat Noi (defunct) in the west and Wat Thong Pa Mo Yai (defunct) in the northeast.
There are no traces anymore visible of the monastery above ground level.
Historical data about the monastery and its construction are unknown.
The temple must have been situated in a locality where bedding, such as mattresses, cushions and pillows, were produced and/or sold (2). On the oldest map, we find written "สนนป่าฟูก", but this is likely miswritten and should be read as "ถนนป่าฟูก" or Mattress Quarter Street. [1]
Phraya Boran Ratchathanin has no indication of this temple on his map drafted in 1926 CE but positions Wat Hip in this area. Whether Wat Pa Fuk is just another denomination for Wat Hip or not, I do not know. Wat Hip is also indicated on the mid-19th century map on the east bank of Khlong Chakrai Yai, more or less opposite Wat Jao Phram.
Wat Pa Fuk must have been located approximatively in geographical coordinates: 14° 20' 31.68" N, 100° 33' 25.27" E where the Fine Arts Department indicates Wat Hip on their 2007 FAD GIS 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) The word "pa" (ป่า) is usually translated as "forest", but in the Ayutthaya era, it also indicated a place where specific products were made and/or sold. Chris Baker translates it as "a quarter". [1]
