Wat Sra Monthon, or the Monastery of the Canton Pond, is a Buddhist religious site outside the Historical Park on Ayutthaya's city island in the Pratu Chai Sub-district. The site likely refers to the old pond behind the Rear Palace.
The site can be reached via U-Thong Soi 26 Road on an unnamed side alley and is south of the Rear Palace (Wang Lang) on the south bank of Khlong Pak Tho (1).
Wat Sra Monthon consists of a single monastic structure. There are no remains of a chedi, bell tower, Meru or kuti. At the time of the visit, there was only a single old monk sleeping on the floor. The structure is a new construction housing many (mostly new) Buddha images. The ubosot has a tin two-tier roof and its walls are pink. An old sema stone marks the entrance.
Wat Sra Monthon shows only on a 1993 CE Fine Arts Department (FAD) map. On a 19th-century map, there is a monastery named Wat Kradichon (วัดกระดีชน), indicated north of Wat Chang. This monastery seems to be more or less in the same location as today's Wat Sra Monthon. Wat Kradichon was near the Phra Racha Wang Lang Landing, south of the Rear Palace. The 2007 CE FAD map does not indicate this site, so there might be a possibility that this is not an ancient site.
The site is in geographical coordinates: 14° 20' 55.42" N, 100° 32' 48.14" E.
Footnotes:
(1) Khlong Pak Tho is part of a waterway running through the west of Ayutthaya from north to south. The canal was a shortcut through the oxbow of the Lopburi River and connected the old Lopburi River, the present Khlong Mueang in the north with - what is today - the Chao Phraya River in the south. The canal originated opposite Wat Choeng Tha and ran west of the Grand Palace to the Lam Hoei Bridge, where its further extension south was called Khlong Chakrai Yai.
