Wat Pa Kup, or the Monastery of the Howdah Quarter, was located on Ayutthaya’s city island outside the Historical Park in Pratu Chai Sub-district. The temple must have been situated in a market area selling howdahs and saddles. Based on the old documents, there was a howdah workshop village in front of Wat Kuti Thong off the island in the northern area. [1]
There are no traces remaining of this temple, and I classified it as defunct.
Historical data about Wat Pa Kup and its construction are not known.
Wat Pa Kup on the maps:
Wat Pa Kup shows on a 19th-century map north of Pa Thon Road, between Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak (1) and Khlong Makham Riang (2) and south of Wat Pet. Wat Khok Rak stood southeast, while Wat Sao Ching Cha was southwest, both south of Pa Thon Road. Wat Pa Kup is represented on the map with a redented chedi on a square base.
Phraya Boran Rachathanin (PBR) situates Wat Pa Kup on his map drafted in 1926 CE more or less in the same spot, with Wat Pet to the west, Wat Khok Rak in the northeast and Wat Kraji in the south. Phraya Boran (1871-1936 CE) was the Superintendent Commissioner of Monthon Ayutthaya from 1925 till 1929 CE but occupied important functions since 1896 CE in Monthon Ayutthaya.
The Fine Arts Department (FAD), on a map drafted in 1993 CE, abbreviates Wat Pa Kup to Wat Kup and indicates the monastery in the location where PBR positions Wat Pet, just north of Thewa Sathan, along Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak.
It is evident that there were different monastic structures in this area, and their denomination remains a bit of guesswork.
Based on a 2007 GIS FAD map, the site was located in geographical coordinates: 14° 21' 18.68" N, 100° 34' 11.87" E.
Footnotes:
(1) Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak, 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.
(2) Khlong Makham Riang, or the Canal of the aligned Tamarind Trees, was before called Khlong Nai Kai. It is a still existent canal situated east on Ayutthaya's city island. The canal was a shortcut in the oxbow of the old Lopburi River. It has today its origin at Khlong Ho Ratana Chai below Wat Senasanaram and the Front Palace, and its mouth at the present Chao Phraya River, west of Phet Fortress. At the mouth was one of the eleven water gates of Ayutthaya called Pratu Nai Kai. The southern exit, which has today a water regulator, has been altered. The original mouth of the canal was about 170 metres more south, close to Pom Phet. Khlong Makham Riang is one of the three large canals running north to south, of which two still are in existence.
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.
