Origin of Bang Ban Canal

Origin of the Bang Ban Canal as its split off from the Chao Phraya River opposite Wat Chula Mani (Ban Kum). The Bang Ban canal - named after a village on its left bank - was a former track of the Chao Phraya River. In 1813 in the reign of King Rama II (1807-1824 CE), engineers tried to straighten the Chao Phraya River to flow through Ayutthaya. The Chao Phraya flowed at that time near Wat Chula Mani in Ban Kum into the Bang Ban canal and continued south via Bang Sai to Bangkok. The Noi River, also an old Chao Phraya River track - joined the (old) Chao Phraya near Wat Sikuk in Nam Tao sub-district. Steve Van Beek (The Chao Phya, River in Transition - 1995) wrote that the Chao Phraya was blocked off near Ang Thong and pushed into the Bang Kaeo Canal. Near Ban Mai, the waterway was diverted into the Lopburi River and resurfaced in the old Chao Phraya River near Wat Mai, 5 Km south of Wat Chula Mani, but the attempt to give the Chao Phraya a new river bed failed, and the project was abandoned. In 1857 a new attempt was undertaken, but this time a channel was dug in front of Wat Chula Mani southwards to Ban Mai. The river followed now the straight course south and joined the Maha Phram canal at Wat Khanon, down to Ayutthaya.

Ayutthaya Historical Research