Wat Thong Pa Mo, or the Golden Monastery of the Pot Quarter, was located on the city island of Ayutthaya in the Pratu Chai Sub-district.
The monastery was situated between Khlong Chakrai Yai (1) and Khlong Chakrai Noi (2), south of Khlong Pa Mo (3).
Wat Thong Pa Mo stood south of Wat Pa Fai, east of Wat Pa Fuk (4) and west of another defunct unidentified temple. To its south, across Rong Krai Road (5), stood Wat Khok Yai Ma.
There are no traces anymore visible of the monastery above ground level.
Historical data about the monastery and its construction are unknown.
Wat Thong Pa Mo on the maps:
The monastery showed on Kaempfer’s map and stood on the bank of a canal branching off from Khlong Chakrai Yai. Kaempfer was a medical doctor working for the Dutch VOC (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) who surveyed the city of Ayutthaya in June 1690 CE. The temple was accessed via the Rong Krai Road by a bridge over the canal. Kaempfer counted 270 paces (about 200 metres) from this bridge to the Khun Lok Bridge over Khlong Chakrai Yai. The unnamed temple to the east was at 180 paces (about 135 metres).
On a 19th-century map by an unknown surveyor, we find two Wat Thong Pa Mo (a major and a minor). In my opinion, Wat Thong Pa Mo Yai (the major) must be the same monastery as Wat Thong Pak Mo on Phraya Boran Ratchathanin's [PBR] map drafted in 1926 CE. Phraya Boran was the Superintendent Commissioner of Monthon Ayutthaya from 1925 till 1929 CE. PBR named the site Wat Thong Pak Mo (วัดทองปากหม้อ), meaning "the Golden Monastery at the Mouth of the Pot". It is likely a miswriting on PBR's map, which should be correctly read as Pa Mo instead of Pak Mo, probably referring to the Pa Mo Quarter and the Pa Mo Canal north of the temple.
None of the Fine Arts Department maps has this site indicated. Wat Thong Pa Mo must have been approximately located in geographical coordinates: 14° 20' 41.31" N, 100° 33' 32.87" E.
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.
(3) Khlong Pa Mo, or the Pot Quarter Canal, is a defunct canal. It was an eastward extension of Khlong Tha Phra and started at the latter's confluence with Khlong Chakrai Yai. Beyond this confluence, it continued in an eastern direction as Khlong Pa Mo and joined the Pratu Thep Mi Canal. There is evidence that this canal continued eastwards in a straight line to join Khlong Makham Riang.
(4) Wat Pa Fuk on the 19th-century map is named Wat Hip on the Fine Arts Department maps.
(5) At present, the road runs north of and within the Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Hospital.
