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Pom Thung Setthi (ป้อมทุ่งเศรษฐี)
Thai. ‘Millionaire's Field Fortress’. Name
of an archaeological site in
Kamphaeng Phet
featuring an old
laterite
fort. It is situated on the west side of the
Ping
river, and together with the river in the
past formed a first line of defence against attacks from the west, namely from
Hansawati, i.e. the former
Mon
kingdom in
Burma
and the historical archenemy of
Siam
during the
Ayutthaya
period. It thus protected the old city of
Kamphaeng Phet, which
once was an important outpost of
Sukhothai, and a buffer against attacks from
Burma. The city of
Kamphaeng Phet is located on the east side of the river and its name means ‘Diamond Wall’,
i.e.
a ‘wall
(kamphaeng) as hard as a diamond (phet)’,
built to prevent the enemy to go beyond it. The fortress is built as an European
style star fort, a bastion with a square floor plan and arrow-shaped bulwarks, i.e. angular
structures projecting outward from the curtain walls of the fortification, positioned at each of the four corners,
which allowed for fire from the flanks and a offers a better defence of the
curtain walls. The walls are approximately 6 metres high and whereas the
distance between the tip of the bulwarks is circa 82 metres, the curtain walls
measure around 52 metres and at the base have a thickness of about 3.5 metres.
The
battlement
is topped with a crenellated parapet
that consist of merlons
called
bai sema,
which at the base each have
a horizontal
loophole or
embrasure. At
the bottom, the thick inner walls have large, deep bunker-like niches in the
form of a house-shaped pentagon, some of which have a single window of the same
shape in the outer wall. On all four sides, in the
middle of each curtain wall,
is a large gate. Thung Setthi
Fortress was reportedly built by the Portuguese, who since 1518 AD, in the reign
of King
Ramathibodi
II (1491—1529 AD), already supplied the Siamese of Portuguese guns and
ammunition. In addition, this king established a Portuguese training corps and
hired Portuguese mercenaries to fight on his side.
The fortress is believed to date from
approximately the 21st—22nd century
BE,
which corresponds roughly to anywhere from the early 16th
to mid 17th century AD.
See MAP.
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