A hill monastery at Phrom Khiri whose registered monument runs to 575 rai — about 92 hectares — and the place where the southern tradition that King Taksin survived Thonburi is told most fully.
วัดเขาขุนพนม · Wat Khao Khun Phanom
| Official name | วัดเขาขุนพนม — Wat Khao Khun Phanom |
|---|---|
| Where | Ban Ko, Phrom Khiri, Nakhon Si Thammarat |
| Royal temple class | Not established from an official register. |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Registered national ancient monument Royal Gazette vol. 116, special part 25 ง, p. 2, 9 April B.E. 2542 Read firsthand in this run, as item 3 of the same announcement that registered Wat Sema Mueang. ประกาศกรมศิลปากร เรื่อง ขึ้นทะเบียนและกำหนดเขตที่ดินโบราณสถาน, made 11 January B.E. 2542, signed by Nikhom Musikakhama, Director-General of the Fine Arts Department, published 9 April B.E. 2542: โบราณสถานวัดเขาขุนพนม, Tambon Ban Ko, Amphoe Phrom Khiri, monument land of about 575 rai 1 ngan 70 square wa. That is about 92 hectares — by a wide margin the largest registered monument area of any temple in this guide, and it is a hill rather than a compound. The department's register carries the site at id 0005076 with the status line โบราณสถานขึ้นทะเบียนและกำหนดเขตที่ดินโบราณสถาน and GIS register status 5. |
| Coordinates | 8.543503, 99.842292 Fine Arts Department FADGIS monument layer, WGS84, monument id 0005076 |
Thai temple histories mix two different kinds of statement, and this guide keeps them apart. What a register, a gazette entry, an inscription or a dated royal act shows is one thing. What the chronicles and the temple itself hold is another, and it is worth telling as what it is.
No founding date is established for this temple and none is asserted. Nor is any part of the King Taksin account documented: it is a tradition, it is contested by historians, and this page states it as tradition and stops there. Two Walailak University pages that carry the detailed version of it — one on the reclining Buddha in the meditation chamber, one on the dark chedi — could not be read in this run: the university's web application firewall blocked the requests outright. Their existence is recorded here so a later run can try again from a different route.
Wat Khao Khun Phanom sits at Moo 3, Tambon Ban Ko, in Amphoe Phrom Khiri, about 25 km north-west of the city, where the Nakhon Si Thammarat range rises out of the coastal plain. The National Office of Buddhism's provincial office publishes only five temples for the entire province and this is one of them, alongside Wat Phra Mahathat.
The first thing to understand about it is the scale of what the state has protected. The Fine Arts Department's announcement of 11 January B.E. 2542, published in the Royal Gazette that April, fixes the monument land at about 575 rai 1 ngan 70 square wa — roughly 92 hectares. Every other temple in this guide is registered in ngan and rai in single or double figures; this one is registered by the hillside. The registration is of a landscape with caves, terraces, walls and buildings in it rather than of a walled compound.
The second thing is the story, and it needs handling carefully. The received history is that King Taksin was deposed and executed at Thonburi in B.E. 2325. A southern tradition, of which this hill is the centre, holds instead that he withdrew here and lived on in retreat. The hill's features are named accordingly — a meditation chamber said to be his, a reclining Buddha on the terrace in front of it that tradition calls his birthday image, and a stone chedi of Chinese form, dark in colour, that tradition says contains his remains.
That tradition is not evidence and this guide does not treat it as any. It is, however, a real and old part of how Nakhon Si Thammarat understands itself, and it is why a hill temple two hours off the main road carries a steady stream of visitors. The honest framing is the one this guide uses everywhere: here is what the record establishes — a registered monument of 575 rai — and here, separately and labelled, is what tradition holds.
This run could not read the two Walailak University pages that carry the fullest version of the tradition. The university's firewall refused the requests at the network level rather than returning a page. That is a wall of a different kind from the bot checks at the Royal Gazette and the Office of Buddhism, both of which a rendering browser cleared in this run, and it is recorded here so that a later run knows the pages exist and knows what stopped this one.
The hill itself: the registered monument is about 575 rai 1 ngan 70 square wa of it, fixed by the Royal Gazette announcement of 9 April B.E. 2542 — the largest monument area of any temple in this guide.
The chamber on the hill that tradition identifies as King Taksin's meditation room, and the reclining Buddha on the terrace in front of it.
The dark stone chedi of Chinese form that tradition holds contains the king's remains. It is a tradition and the page says so; nothing establishes what is inside it.
The climb. This is a hill monastery reached by steps, and the site's interest is spread across the slope rather than concentrated at the bottom.
This is a working place of worship for millions of people rather than an attraction, and it is treated as one at the gate. Where a figure below is blank, no source we are prepared to cite states it.
| Hours | Not established from an official source. |
|---|---|
| Admission | Not established from an official source. |
| Dress | An active temple: shoulders and knees covered, shoes off in the halls and before entering the chambers on the hill. |
| Photography | No restriction stated by any official source read in this run. |
| Getting there | Moo 3, Tambon Ban Ko, Amphoe Phrom Khiri, about 25 km north-west of Nakhon Si Thammarat city. There is no public transport to the gate; the practical approach is a hired car or motorbike. The site is on a hillside and is reached on foot from the car park. |
Every temple reference repeats claims nobody has checked. These are the ones we went looking for and could not stand up, listed so you know exactly where this page stops.
That is a tradition, not a documented fact, and this guide treats it as tradition. The accepted history is that King Taksin died at Thonburi in B.E. 2325. A southern account holds that he withdrew to this hill instead and lived out his life here, and the hill carries a meditation chamber, a reclining Buddha and a dark stone chedi that the tradition attaches to him. Nothing read in this run documents any of it.
About 575 rai 1 ngan 70 square wa — roughly 92 hectares — fixed by a Fine Arts Department announcement made on 11 January B.E. 2542 and published in the Royal Gazette on 9 April B.E. 2542. It is the largest registered monument area of any temple in this guide, because what is protected is a hillside rather than a compound.
Moo 3, Tambon Ban Ko, Amphoe Phrom Khiri, about 25 km north-west of Nakhon Si Thammarat city on the flank of the Nakhon Si Thammarat range. There is no scheduled public transport to it; a hired car or motorbike is the practical way, and the site is climbed on foot from the car park.
Before you go, read the guide to Buddhism and temple etiquette in Thailand — dress, footwear, where photography is not welcome and how to behave around monks. The rest of Nakhon Si Thammarat’s temples are covered here too.
Every temple here sits in a place worth reading about on its own terms. The nationwide temple guide covers the other provinces to the same documentary standard as this page, and says on each one what the record establishes and what it does not.
If you are thinking about more than a visit: work out which Thai visa route fits your situation, and see what is available to rent and buy in residences across Thailand.
Every fact on this page is drawn from the sources above. Where they disagree, this page says so rather than choosing silently. Registrations, fees, hours and access change; confirm anything you are relying on with the authority concerned. BAANLYY LLC is a Nevada company and a listing portal, does not represent any temple, and offers no legal or religious advice.