Wat Phra Prang

Wat Phra Prang sits in Bang Rachan district, Sing Buri province — not Ayutthaya, despite an architectural style that leads some listings to place it there. The temple’s 15-metre brick prang, built in an Ayutthaya-period style with a tapering, corn-husk profile, is the reason for the confusion: Sing Buri sat on the same trade and building networks as the old capital, and its temple builders used the same forms.

The prang itself has a low base and a hollow interior, with square niches cut into the inner walls where Buddha images once stood — most are now empty, and traces of old mural work have faded from the brick. Some accounts link its construction to the reign of King Narai in the mid-17th century, though no founding record survives to confirm an exact date; the Fine Arts Department registered it as a national historical monument on 8 March 1925. Behind the prang stands an old Ayutthaya-style viharn (assembly hall), its wooden gable carved with lion figures and supporting brackets, and the adjoining ubosot shows later Ayutthaya-period detailing.

Away from the main tower, the temple grounds hold the remains of three or four brick kilns from the Mae Nam Noi pottery works — once the largest ceramics production centre in the Ayutthaya kingdom, turning out four-eared storage jars, bowls, mortars, bottles, and even cannonballs. The kilns’ angled ventilation shafts are still visible, a rare surviving piece of pre-modern Thai industry rather than religious architecture.

Insider Tip: The kiln remains get skipped by most visitors who come only for the prang. Ask at the temple office for the kiln site — it is a short walk from the main tower and adds real context to what the pottery finds on display elsewhere in Sing Buri actually came from.

Watch out: Do not confuse this temple with Wat Phra Prang Muni in Mueang Sing Buri district — a similarly named but separate gold-painted temple about 20 km away. Both share the “Wat Phra Prang” name because both are built around a prang tower.

Wat Phra Prang is open daily from around 08:00 to 16:30, free to enter, and reachable by car or motorbike from Sing Buri town via Bang Rachan district roads. Dress modestly as at any active temple — shoulders and knees covered is the safe default even where enforcement is relaxed. Combine it with a stop at the Sing Buri town centre or Wat Phra Prang Muni’s gold prang for a short two-temple loop rather than treating it as an Ayutthaya day-trip add-on.