Origin of the Bang Kaeo Canal

The Bang Kaeo River is a defunct river which river bed at present still can be traced back along the different irrigation canals east of the Chao Phraya River. In the Ayutthayan era the river had its source at the split of the Chao Phraya River near Bang Kaeo in the same way the Lopburi River had its origin at Bang Phutsa. After 500 meter it ran into the present irrigation canal running through Hua Phai of Maha Rat district, Han Sang, Ta Nim, Bang Nang Ra, Khwan Mueang and Phut Lao of Bang Pahan district. From Ban Nonsi in Phut Lao sub-district, the river turned southwest towards Ban Mai and then turned southeast towards Ayutthaya. The Bang Kaeo River joined the old Lopburi River at Hua Laem at the northwestern point of the city in front of Sat Kop Fortress.

In 1813 in the reign of King Rama II (r. 1807-1824) engineers tried to straighten the Chao Phraya River to flow through Ayutthaya. The Chao Phraya was blocked off  here in Ang Thong and pushed into the Bang Kaeo Canal. Near Ban Mai the waterway was deviated into the Lopburi River and resurfaced in the old Chao Phraya River near Wat Mai, 5 Km south of Wat Jula Mani, but the attempt to give the Chao Phraya a new river bed failed and the project was abandoned. 

Part of the old river from Bang Kaeo to Maha Rat is now called the Bang Kaeo Canal. The canal has two water regulators; one at its origin at Bang It and one near its confluence with the Lopburi River at Hua Phai (Maha Rat).

Ayutthaya Historical Research