Wat Singha

Located to the north of Wat Phra Sri Iriyabot, Wat Singha was laid out in rectangular shape and enclosed on four sides with a laterite wall. At the front of the temple, there is a base of a building of vast size. The base, in the form of lotus decorated with a ring-like moulding, was designed for a ritual walk in a clockwise direction. Low laterite walls were built along two sides of the base. Its front part was decorated with stuccoed statues with laterite cores in the form of lions and gate guardians. Eight pedestals for sima stones around the base suggest that the building was a large ordination hall. Considering a structure raised above floor-level for monks to sit on found along traces of a southern wall of the building, this building was first used in the Sukhothai period as a vihara and later in the Ayutthaya period as an ordination hall. The sima stones were carved from slate with flora designs and edged with Kanok motifs. Those are decorative patterns of the Ayutthaya period.

Next to the base of the vihara which was later modified as an ordination hall, are remains of the principal chedi enclosed with a boundary wall. Only an unadorned square base and another square one in the form of lotus are still in existence. The lower part of this main chedi was decorated with niches on four sides. Unlike other principal chedis, this chedi was made of brick instead of laterite. Evidence from a photograph of the said chedi taken during the reign of King Rama V and from fragments of mouldings around the base of its body suggest that the principal chedi of Wat Singha was built in bell-shape on a square receding tiered base, similar to the main stupa of Wat Ngam in the Aranyik area of Kamphaeng Phet. Outside the boundary wall enclosing the Buddhavasa precinct, building bases of different sizes were found. Presumably, those are the bases of a Sala structure and houses for monks in a monastic precinct.  

Ayutthaya Historical Research