Thailand · 19th century
Wichien Chodok Fort ranks #8,800 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #20 of the 21 mapped in Thailand. Founded 1814, it is older than 11% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 705 atlas entries founded in the 19th century. The nearest day-trip guide is Bangkok, 35 km away. See how Thailand compares in the castle statistics.
Wichien Chodok Fort is a fortress located in Mahachai subdistrict, Mueang Samut Sakhon district, Samut Sakhon province.
Before Wichien Chodok Fort was built, in the reign of King Narai a fort appeared at the mouth of the Tha Chin River. From the travel records of Monsieur Céberet, the French ambassador in the reign of King Narai, who returned to France by ship in 1687, it is noted: "...in this town there is one small fort, built of brick; the fort's wall is about 10 feet high, but it has no terrace, only a battery with small guns and brass cannon as well. When I arrived, those guns fired in salute to me."
Wichien Chodok Fort was built in 1828, when King Rama III graciously ordered Phraya Choduek Ratchasetthi (Thongchin Kraiirek) to be the superintendent and to build a fort to guard the mouth of the Tha Chin River at Samut Sakhon, because in his reign Siam had a dispute with the Vietnamese over Chao Anouvong of Vientiane; King Rama III feared that the Vietnamese would bring naval forces to invade Siam, and so built forts along the important river mouths.
Architecturally it is a building of brick and mortar. The fort is a little over one sok wide and about 6 sok high; it has no watchtower, only a battery, each embrasure being about 5 metres wide. Cannon were stationed at the openings of the fort wall, and on every barrel there is a symbol in the form of the British royal crown with the letters G R and the word BACON inscribed. At present the fort has only three sides, namely the north, the south and the west (adjoining the Tha Chin River); some parts were cut away to be used as a thoroughfare, and within the area of the fort stand the city pillar shrine and a public park.
Machine-translated from “ป้อมวิเชียรโชฎก” on the Thai Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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