North Gate and old city wall, Nakhon Sri Thammarat.

North Gate and old city wall, Nakhon Sri Thammarat.

Just a part of one of the shorter sides of Nakhon Si Thammarat's long, original rectangle of walls is still standing, but this section has been carefully restored. These impressive remains still gives a clear impression of what the fortifications must have been like when they stood within defensive moats, resisting first King Taksin, and then the invading Burmese, during the early Rattanakosin period. The remains of the ancient brick-built walls of Nakhon Si Thammarat are topped with crenellated battlements in the familiar shape of Buddhist bai sema. The imposing structure is broken by part of the only surviving city gate, the northern one, which boasts a strongly fortified gate house and a wide, high arch. In times past the walls of Nakhon Si Thammarat were defended by four strong corner-forts, but these have totally disappeared. Originally the wall enclosed an area measuring about half a kilometre from East to West, by just over two kilometres from North to South. Today only the north gate, Pratu Chai Neua or Pratu Chai Sak, still survives at least, in part. The former south gate has completely disappeared and is today only remembered in the nearby road named Thanon Pratu Chai Tai, or 'South Gate Road'.

Album / Pictures From History/Universal Images Group

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