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The second fall of Ayutthaya, 1767: the camps, the breach and what was destroyed

Two Burmese armies sent by King Hsinbyushin met at Ayutthaya early in 1766, ringed the city with camps and stayed through the floods. On the night of 7 April 1767 the wall at Hua Ro collapsed, undermined by fire in tunnels beneath it, and the city was sacked and burned. This page maps the Burmese camps and the breach, lists the palaces and temples that were destroyed and what can still be seen, and suggests places to visit and eat near each spot.

City island34567891011121314
  • Burmese camp (numbers match the list below)
  • Area shown in the close-up map below
  • Other places on our map

1. Pak Nam Prasop camp, 2. Pho Sam Ton camp, 15. Si Kuk camp lie outside this map, about 8.3 km, 6.2 km, 12.1 km from the Ancient Royal Palace

What happened, in order

  1. January 1766

    Ne Myo Thihapate wins at Pak Nam Prasop and the two Burmese armies reach the outskirts of the city.

  2. September 1766

    The Burmese stay through the floods. Maha Nawrahta moves to the Phu Khao Thong area and Ne Myo Thihapate to Pho Sam Ton.

  3. 3–4 January 1767

    Phraya Tak breaks out through the encirclement to the east. On the night of the 4th a fire destroys some 10,000 houses in the city.

  4. March 1767

    The Chinese camp at Khlong Suan Phlu, the Portuguese village and the stronghold at Wat Chaiwatthanaram fall. The Portuguese churches are burned on 23 March.

  5. Late March 1767

    Ne Myo Thihapate builds three stockades on the Hua Ro side, bridges the river and digs five tunnels under the foot of the wall.

  6. 7 April 1767

    About 3 pm the Burmese fire the tunnels; at dusk the wall subsides; about 8 pm the order is given to attack on every side, and by midnight they are inside.

  7. Late April 1767

    Most of the Burmese army leaves with its captives and plunder, leaving Suki's force at the Pho Sam Ton camp.

  8. November 1767

    King Taksin returns by river and retakes the Pho Sam Ton camp.

Where the Burmese camped

A Burmese commander who took part counted 27 siege camps; the Thai chronicles name 18. These are the ones that can be placed on a map: the main camps in the north, the close-in camps at Hua Ro, and the camps on the west and south.

  1. Ne Myo Thihapate's main camp at Pak Nam Prasop (Wat Pa Fai)

    Ne Myo Thihapate's first main camp, early 1766

    Ne Myo Thihapate, commander of the northern army · Pho Sam Ton, Bang Pahan district, on the old Lopburi River at the mouth of the Pho Sam Ton channel, across from Wat Woranayok Rangsan (Wat Khao Din)

    Today: Wat Pa Fai is an abandoned temple on private land, with a pavilion sheltering Buddha images and fragments of Early Ayutthaya sandstone Buddhas; ask the owners before visiting. Only a short ditch remains of the mouth of the Pho Sam Ton channel near the bridge.

    Show on the mapGoogle Maps ↗Details, sights and food nearby →

  2. The Pho Sam Ton camp

    The main northern camp, where captives were held after the fall

    Ne Myo Thihapate · later Suki, the Mon commander · Pho Sam Ton, Bang Pahan district, north of the city island, on both banks of the old Lopburi River above Wat Pho Sam Ton approximate

    Today: The camp area was dug up for bricks around the 1950s and is now a large pond with brick fragments in the soil and a shrine to King Taksin.

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  3. Burmese camps on the Phaniat plain

    The Phaniat plain, where the Burmese burned the kraal pavilion and camped

    Burmese armies of several wars · Suan Phrik, on the Phaniat plain north of the city island; the map point is the elephant kraal approximate

    Today: The elephant kraal seen today was restored in the Rattanakosin period and can be visited from the Phu Khao Thong–Phaniat road.

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  4. Burmese camp at Wat Chedi Daeng

    A gun camp bombarding the city from the north

    Ne Myo Thihapate's army · Hua Ro, on the Phaniat peninsula north of the city island, on Khlong Hua Ro and Khlong Daeng

    Today: An active temple where locals come to have their vehicles blessed. There is no red chedi despite the name, but a red bell tower stands by the canal and a Late Ayutthaya redented chedi rises behind the sermon hall.

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  5. Burmese camp at Wat Sam Wihan

    A gun camp facing the Maha Chai Fortress line

    Pegu army (1563–64) · Ne Myo Thihapate's army (1766–67) · Hua Ro, on the Phaniat peninsula north of the city island, on Khlong Bang Khuat (the old Lopburi River), facing the line of Maha Chai Fortress

    Today: An active temple with a boat-shaped vihara holding a large reclining Buddha, a big bell-shaped chedi visible across town, and an ordination hall with its full set of boundary stones.

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  6. Burmese camp at Wat Monthop

    A gun camp on Ko Loi, opposite Hua Ro

    Ne Myo Thihapate's army · Hua Ro, on Ko Loi on the east bank of the Front City Canal, opposite Hua Ro market and Chan Kasem Palace

    Today: A temple on a small island created by later canal digging, with an ordination hall, a vihara and a bell tower, a short walk from Hua Ro market and the long-tail boat landing.

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  7. Burmese camp at Wat Krajom

    A gun camp on the east bank of the Front City Canal

    Ne Myo Thihapate's army · Hua Ro, on the east bank of the Front City Canal opposite Ko Loi, at the mouth of Khlong Wat Pradu and Khlong Sai approximate

    Today: Nothing of the temple or the camp is visible above ground; houses now cover the site. The map point marks the former temple.

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  8. Burmese stockade at Wat Mae Nang Plum (Khok Phama)

    The stockade at the head of the bridge used to reach the tunnels

    Ne Myo Thihapate's army · In front of Wat Mae Nang Plum, Hua Ro, on the south side of the road, near the Lopburi River and the Hua Ro weir

    Today: Two earthen mounds survive on the south side of the road, known locally as Khok Phama (the Burmese mounds); Chinese residents later used them as a burial ground. The temple is still active.

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  9. Burmese siege works at Hua Ro (bridge and tunnels)

    The siege works with the tunnels: where the wall came down

    Ne Myo Thihapate's army · North-eastern corner of the city island at Hua Ro market, on U-Thong Road near Chan Kasem Palace approximate

    Today: The Hua Ro market area, with a memorial wall on U-Thong Road.

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  10. Burmese camp at Wat Na Phra Men

    The camp facing the palace across the city canal

    Burmese army · North of the city island, across the city canal from the Grand Palace

    Today: An Ayutthaya-period ordination hall that escaped the fire, with a large crowned Buddha image. The temple is active and open to visitors.

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  11. Burmese camp at Wat Phu Khao Thong

    Maha Nawrahta's camp to the north-west

    Maha Nawrahta's army · The Phu Khao Thong fields, outside the city island to the north-west

    Today: The Golden Mount chedi still dominates the fields, close to the King Naresuan the Great monument on Thung Phu Khao Thong.

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  12. Burmese camp at Wat Tha Ka Rong

    Maha Nawrahta's vanguard, about 500 metres from the wall

    Maha Nawrahta's vanguard · West bank of the Chao Phraya, opposite the north-western corner of the city island

    Today: An active riverside temple with a weekend floating market.

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  13. Burmese camps at Ban Pom, Thung Prachet

    A gun camp on the west bank

    Pegu army (1563–64) · Po Suphla's troops (late 1766) · Ban Pom, on the Prachet fields west of the city island, around Wat Kasattrathirat and Wat Worachet outside the island approximate

    Today: The Prachet fields are still open land, with the prang of Wat Kasattrathirat on the river and Wat Worachet in the middle of the fields. No trace of the camps remains.

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  14. Burmese camp at Ko Kaeo

    The camp on the south-east

    Pegu army (1568–69) · Burmese army (1767) · Kamang, on the east bank of the Pa Sak River, on the island formed by Khlong Khao San and Khlong Khanom Tan, opposite the south-east corner of the city island approximate

    Today: Wat Ko Kaeo is an active temple with a Late Ayutthaya-style ordination hall facing the Pa Sak River and a shrine to King Taksin.

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  15. The Si Kuk camp

    Maha Nawrahta's base to the west

    Maha Nawrahta, commander of the southern army · Wat Si Kuk, Bang Ban district, in the horseshoe bend where Khlong Bang Ban meets the Noi River, west of the city island

    Today: Wat Si Kuk has the ruin of a redented chedi and a shrine to Maha Nawrahta. A 1966 survey by N. Na Paknam described a brick wall the Burmese built across the neck of the bend, enclosing several dozen rai.

    Google Maps ↗Details, sights and food nearby →

Where they broke in

After the first fall Ayutthaya had walls along the water on every side, so for the first year the Burmese could not storm it. They starved the city, picked off its outposts one by one and pushed their stockades up to the walls. Early in 1767 the outer strongholds fell in turn: the Chinese camp at Khlong Suan Phlu, the Portuguese village and Wat Chaiwatthanaram.

The point chosen was Hua Ro, the north-east corner, at the weir that crossed the old Lopburi River. Ne Myo Thihapate built three stockades, bridged the river from the Wat Mae Nang Pluem bank and dug five tunnels under the foot of the wall beside Maha Chai Fortress. A last Siamese sortie against the camps cost about 800 men.

On the afternoon of Tuesday 7 April 1767 the Burmese packed the tunnels with fuel and fired the foundations. At dusk the wall subsided. About 8 pm the signal gun was fired and Burmese troops went in through the gap and over ladders on every side at once.

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Hua Ro in 1767: the close-in camps, the bridge and the breach
  • Burmese camp; numbers match the list of camps above
  • Line of the bridge from the stockade at Wat Mae Nang Pluem to the siege works under the wall
  • Where the wall came down on the night of 7 April 1767 (today's Hua Ro market)
Camp positions follow research based on the Thai and Burmese chronicles; the line of the bridge is approximate, drawn over today's rivers and canals.

Burmese siege works at Hua Ro (bridge and tunnels)

Ne Myo Thihapate's army

Where: North-eastern corner of the city island at Hua Ro market, on U-Thong Road near Chan Kasem Palace approximate

In late March 1767 Ne Myo Thihapate built three stockades on the Hua Ro side, bridged the river opposite the Hua Ro weir and dug five tunnels under the foundations of the wall. A Siamese sortie against the camps cost about 800 men. A Burmese commander's account says dry grass and branches were packed into the tunnels, soaked with oil and fired until the wall collapsed; the Burmese stormed in and the city fell in April 1767.

Today: The Hua Ro market area, with a memorial wall on U-Thong Road.

Still debated: Sources differ by a few days on when the tunnels were fired; Thai sources date the fall to 7 April 1767.

Show on the mapGoogle Maps ↗Sights and food near this spot →

Sources for this camp
  1. Maha Chai Fortress – Ayutthaya Historical Research
  2. The Burmese Mounds (โคกพม่า) – Ayutthaya Historical Research
  3. Tunnels and fire under the wall: the end of Ayutthaya – Silpa Wattanatham (in Thai)

What was destroyed

This time the city was sacked and burned, people and treasure were carried off to Burma, and Ayutthaya never became the capital again. Scholars point out, though, that not all the damage seen today was done on the night of the fall: part of it came from treasure hunting and brick removal over the following decades.

  • Burned
    The Grand Palace

    Burned on the night of the fall; only the foundations of its throne halls remain.

    Read about Ancient Royal Palace →

  • Burned
    Wat Phra Si Sanphet and its great Buddha

    The vihara was burned and the gold-covered standing Buddha, Phra Si Sanphet, was damaged beyond repair. Tradition says the Burmese lit fires to melt off its gold; this is disputed.

    Read about Wat Phra Si Sanphet →

  • Damaged
    Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit

    The burning roof fell on the image, breaking its head and right arm.

    Read about this place on naresuan.com →

  • Burned
    Wat Mahathat, Wat Ratchaburana, Wat Thammikarat

    The royal temples in the centre were burned and many Buddha images were smashed or beheaded.

    Read about Wat Mahathat →

  • Burned
    Chan Kasem Palace (the Front Palace)

    Next to the breach; burned to ruins and abandoned.

    Read about this place on naresuan.com →

  • Burned
    The Portuguese village and the Chinese camp at Khlong Suan Phlu

    The three Portuguese churches were burned on 23 March 1767, and the Chinese quarter at Khlong Suan Phlu was destroyed with the city.

    Read about Portuguese Settlement →

  • Burned
    Ordinary houses

    Burmese accounts say a fire on the night of 4 January 1767 destroyed some 10,000 houses inside the walls, three months before the fall.

  • Taken away
    People and the royal family

    Perhaps 30,000 people were marched to Burma, among them the former King Uthumphon and many of the royal family. The captives were gathered at Martaban before going on to Ava.

  • Taken away
    Cannon, royal barges and treasure

    The Burmese chronicle says more than 500 cannon were rafted to Ava, with royal barges and valuables.

  • People
    King Ekkathat

    He died after the fall. Thai chronicles say he fled to Ban Chik near Wat Sangkhawat, went days without food and died at the Pho Sam Ton camp; the Burmese chronicle says he was shot at a city gate.

    Read about Wat Sangkhawat →

  • Spared
    Wat Na Phra Men

    Not burned, by tradition because the Burmese camped there, so its Ayutthaya-period ordination hall survives intact.

    Read about Wat Na Phra Men →

  • Later damage
    Damage after the war

    A French missionary's letter of 1769 describes starving Thais, and especially Chinese, stripping the temples and breaking up Buddha images for metal. Under Rama I to Rama III bricks from the walls and palaces were taken to build Bangkok.

Evidence you can still see

The whole Ayutthaya Historical Park is evidence of this war. These are the places that tell the story of the fall most clearly; some are as far away as Bangkok and Myanmar.

Bird's-eye oil painting of Ayutthaya on its river island, with city walls, canals and spires, titled IUDEA
“Iudea”, a view of Ayutthaya by Johannes Vingboons, c. 1662 · Photo: Johannes Vingboons (Rijksmuseum) · CC0 via Wikimedia Commons

Ayutthaya before its destruction

This oil painting by the Dutchman Johannes Vingboons, made around 1662, shows the walled city with its grid of canals and its many prangs and chedis about a century before the fall. The original is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Brick foundation ruins of the Sanphet Maha Prasat throne hall in the old royal palace
Remains of the Sanphet Maha Prasat throne hall, Ancient Royal Palace · Photo: Supanut Arunoprayote · CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Throne-hall foundations in the Grand Palace

A palace used for more than three centuries is now only brick foundations, partly from the fire on the night of the fall and partly because its bricks were taken to build Bangkok under Rama I to Rama III.

Read about Ancient Royal Palace →Google Maps ↗

Ruined brick prangs and chedis at Wat Mahathat
Ruins of Wat Mahathat, Ayutthaya · Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Wat Mahathat

Rows of headless Buddha images along the galleries, and the Buddha head held in tree roots, have become the lasting image of Ayutthaya after the fall. The main prang collapsed later, in the Bangkok period.

Read about Wat Mahathat →Google Maps ↗

The Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit hall with its tiered roof
Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit · Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Phra Mongkhon Bophit

The burning roof fell and broke the image's head and right arm. Phraya Boran Ratchathanin repaired the image in 1920, and the vihara seen today was finished in 1957, helped by a donation from the Prime Minister of Burma, who visited Ayutthaya in 1956.

Read about this place on naresuan.com →Google Maps ↗

Chandra Kasem Palace with the Phisai Sanyalak tower on the left
Chandra Kasem Palace (the Front Palace) · Photo: Hdamm · CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Chan Kasem Palace, beside the breach

The Front Palace stood next to Hua Ro. It was burned and left in ruins until King Mongkut restored it as a residence for his visits to the old capital; it is now the Chan Kasem National Museum. The breach itself was at today's Hua Ro market, where a memorial wall stands on U-Thong Road.

Read about this place on naresuan.com →Google Maps ↗

The central prang of Wat Chaiwatthanaram surrounded by smaller prangs and chedis
Wat Chaiwatthanaram, Ayutthaya · Photo: Evilarry · Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Wat Chaiwatthanaram, the last stronghold outside the walls

The Siamese held this temple as their south-western stronghold for nine days before it fell. Almost all the Buddha images in its surrounding towers have lost their heads.

Read about Wat Chaiwatthanaram →Google Maps ↗

Tile-covered great chedis rising above temple roofs at Wat Pho, Bangkok
The four great chedis of Wat Pho, Bangkok · Photo: Bienvenue en Thaïlande · CC0 via Wikimedia Commons
Outside Ayutthaya

Phra Maha Chedi Si Sanphetdayan, Wat Pho, Bangkok

In 1790 King Rama I had the damaged Phra Si Sanphet image brought down to Bangkok and enshrined inside the first great chedi of Wat Pho, the one faced with green tiles. The most important Buddha image of the old capital lies within it.

Google Maps ↗

A brick stupa and excavated brick foundations under trees at Linzin-gon cemetery, Amarapura
The stupa at Linzin-gon cemetery, Amarapura, Myanmar · Photo: Lionslayer · CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Outside Ayutthaya

The stupa at Linzin-gon cemetery, Amarapura

A brick stupa in a cemetery near U Bein Bridge in Myanmar, thought by some to hold the ashes of King Uthumphon, who was taken away with the people of Ayutthaya and died there. The identification is not settled.

Google Maps ↗

Painting of swordsmen storming a Burmese timber stockade among trees
“Chao Tak attacks the Burmese camp at Pho Sam Ton”, from the Khlong Phap Phra Ratcha Phongsawadan series, painted in 1887 · Photo: นายอ่อน (จิตรกร) · Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Chao Tak attacks the Pho Sam Ton camp (painted 1887)

From the series of chronicle paintings made under King Chulalongkorn, 120 years after the event: an illustration, not contemporary evidence. The real camp at Pho Sam Ton was dug up for its bricks and is now a pond.

Read about Pho Sam Ton camp →

Places to visit and eat nearby

We group the key places of this war into six areas. The first five lie around the city island, within reach of each other by bike or car; the last is out of town to the north and needs a drive.

Hua Ro: where the wall came down

Start at Hua Ro market and the memorial wall on U-Thong Road, walk to Chan Kasem Palace, then cross the city canal to Wat Mae Nang Pluem to see the Burmese mounds. Everything is within walking or cycling distance.

In this area:9Hua Ro siege works8Khok Phama mounds6Wat Monthop camp7Wat Krajom camp

Places to visit

  • Maha Chai Fortress, Hua RoThe corner of the wall the Burmese undermined with tunnels and fire until it collapsed on the night the city fell, 7 April 1767
  • Wat Mae Nang PluemThe bank opposite Maha Chai Fortress where the Burmese camped to attack the city; what remains is Khok Phama, the "Burmese Mound", near the temple
  • Wat Monthop (Ko Loi) ↗Google Maps

Where to eat

Show this area on the mapGoogle Maps ↗

The Phaniat plain: the gun camps in the north

North across the bridge from Hua Ro is the Phaniat peninsula, with Wat Sam Wihan, Wat Chedi Daeng and the elephant kraal, where the Burmese set up camps to bombard the city.

In this area:3Phaniat camps4Wat Chedi Daeng camp5Wat Sam Wihan camp

Places to visit

Where to eat

Show this area on the mapGoogle Maps ↗

The centre of the island: the burned palace and temples

The historical park is the area that suffered most. Walk from the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Si Sanphet and Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit to Wat Mahathat in half a day, then cross the city canal to Wat Na Phra Men, the temple that was not burned.

In this area:10Na Phra Men camp

Places to visit

  • Wat Phra Si SanphetThe palace temple whose gold-covered Phra Si Sanphet image was burned and stripped of its gold on the night the city fell
  • Ancient Royal PalaceWhere the young Sin was presented as a royal page, and where some chronicles say King Taksin spent the night after recovering the capital
  • Wat Na Phra MenThe temple the Burmese used as a position for firing on the palace, which is why it escaped the fire on the night the city fell
  • Wat MahathatThe great temple at the centre of the city island that was burned, its Buddha images beheaded, when the city fell
  • Wat Choeng ThaThe temple where the boy Sin is said to have studied under Phra Achan Thongdi, before he grew up to be Phraya Tak

Show this area on the mapGoogle Maps ↗

The south: Pom Phet, Wat Phanan Choeng and the Portuguese village

The Siamese strongholds in the south fell less than a month before the city. Pom Phet, Wat Phanan Choeng, Baan Hollanda, the Japanese village and the Portuguese village line the river here.

In this area:14Ko Kaeo camp

Places to visit

  • Wat Phanan ChoengThe temple of the riverside Chinese community, near the camp of the Chinese volunteers at Khlong Suan Phlu in the war of the fall
  • Phet FortressThe river-mouth fort at the south-east corner, on the side where the Chinese volunteers' junks were trapped by a Burmese iron chain
  • Portuguese SettlementThe Portuguese community whose camp fell in March 1767; some of its soldiers went on to serve in King Taksin's army

Where to eat

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The west: Wat Chaiwatthanaram, Phu Khao Thong and Tha Ka Rong

Maha Nawrahta's army lay on this side. Wat Chaiwatthanaram was the last Siamese stronghold outside the walls, while Wat Tha Ka Rong and Ban Pom were Burmese gun camps. A road along the Chao Phraya links them by car or bike.

In this area:11Phu Khao Thong camp12Tha Ka Rong camp13Ban Pom camps

Places to visit

Where to eat

Show this area on the mapGoogle Maps ↗

Out of town to the north: Pho Sam Ton

Ne Myo Thihapate's main camps lay 6 to 8 kilometres north of the island, in Bang Pahan district, and need a drive. A pond, brick fragments and a shrine to King Taksin are what remain.

In this area:2Pho Sam Ton camp1Pak Nam Prasop camp

Places to visit

Show this area on the mapGoogle Maps ↗

After the fall

Most of the Burmese army left within weeks, needed against a Chinese invasion in the north, leaving Suki's force to guard captives at the Pho Sam Ton camp. Seven months later King Taksin came back by river and took it, but Ayutthaya was too badly damaged to be a capital again and he set up his court at Thonburi.

The ruined city was abandoned, dug over for treasure and quarried for bricks to build Bangkok. Survey and conservation began under King Chulalongkorn, and the site was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1991.

Where historians still disagree

  • Who destroyed Ayutthaya: B. J. Terwiel points out, from French missionary letters, that most of the Burmese army left on 25 April 1767, only 18 days after the fall, so much of the damage probably came later, from treasure hunting, the breaking up of Buddha images for metal, and the removal of bricks to build Bangkok.
  • Was Phra Si Sanphet burned for its gold: the tradition that the Burmese melted the gold off with fire is challenged by Rungroj Piromanukul in a book whose title says the image was not burned for its gold when the city fell. What is certain is that it was too damaged to restore, and Rama I enshrined it in a great chedi at Wat Pho.
  • How King Ekkathat died: of starvation after fleeing to Ban Chik, in the Thai chronicles; shot at a city gate, in the Burmese chronicle.
  • The number of camps: 27 in a Burmese commander's account and 18 in the Thai chronicles, because sub-camps and camps that moved are counted differently.
  • Date and time: Thai sources date the fall to Tuesday 7 April 1767; accounts differ by a few days on when the tunnels were fired.
  • Why Wat Na Phra Men survived: that the Burmese spared it because they camped there is tradition; no Burmese source confirms it directly.

Frequently asked questions

What was the date of the second fall of Ayutthaya?

The night of Tuesday 7 April 1767, the 9th waxing day of the 5th lunar month, in the reign of King Ekkathat, after a siege of about 14 months.

Where did the Burmese break in the second time?

Through the wall beside Maha Chai Fortress at Hua Ro, the north-east corner of the island. The Burmese bridged the river from the Wat Mae Nang Pluem bank, dug five tunnels under the wall and set fires in them until it collapsed. The spot is today's Hua Ro market.

What did the Burmese burn in 1767?

The Grand Palace, Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Wat Mahathat, Wat Ratchaburana, Chan Kasem Palace, the Portuguese village and a great many houses. The roof of Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit fell on its image. Wat Na Phra Men was not burned.

Where were the Burmese camps in 1767?

The main camps were at Pak Nam Prasop and Pho Sam Ton in the north. The close-in camps stood at Hua Ro and on the Phaniat plain, at Wat Sam Wihan, Wat Chedi Daeng, Wat Monthop and Wat Mae Nang Pluem, and on the west there were camps at Wat Phu Khao Thong, Wat Tha Ka Rong and Ban Pom.

Did the Burmese cause all the ruin seen today?

Not all of it. The fire on the night of the fall destroyed timber buildings and roofs, but contemporary evidence shows that after the war people stripped the ruins for valuables and melted down Buddha images, and in the early Bangkok period bricks from the walls and palaces were taken to build the new capital.

How is the second fall linked to King Taksin?

Phraya Tak fought in the defence of the city from the start. Early in January 1767 he broke out to the east from his camp at Wat Phichai, gathered forces at Rayong and Chanthaburi, and came back by river to retake the Pho Sam Ton camp in November of the same year.

How did the first fall differ from the second?

In 1569 the enemy came in at the south-east corner over causeways built across the moat, helped by a spy inside; there is no record of the city being burned, and it remained a capital, as a vassal of Pegu. In 1767 the enemy tunnelled under the wall at Hua Ro, the north-east corner, and fired its foundations; the city was sacked and burned and never became the capital again.

Last updated 13 November 2026