Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
small part to Bradley's energetic work as a medical doctor, teacher and importer of Siam's
first printing press.
The Presbyterians founded their own church, initially holding services and meetings
in their living quarters, and by 1857 they were able to buy a plot of land at Samray, a village
on the Thonburi side that took its name from the samray trees that grew there on the
riverfront. Here they decided to build a church, and although it took five years to raise the
funds and construct the building, Samray Church opened in 1862. Although Samray may
have seemed an odd destination, this part of the riverbank was quickly being transformed
from a wilderness into an industrial area, and the population was growing. There was also
the large population of Westerners directly across the river, at the lower end of Charoen
Krung Road. Samray became the centre of the Presbyterian community, and along with
the church there was a boys' school, a printing press, and housing for the missionaries and
the local people who became involved with running the community. The school was later
to move across the river, where it became the Bangkok Christian College.
Samray Church is reached via the quiet lane of Charoen Nakhorn Soi 59, a thorough-
fare that is little more than a footpath, and the church sits directly on the riverbank, fron-
ted by a green lawn. A small jetty is there for anyone travelling by boat. The original
church fell into disrepair half a century after it was built, and this present structure was
erected in 1910, taking the same design. A belfry was added as a separate structure in
1912. The lines of the church are clean and simple, with three arches on the plain flat
frontage, which is adorned only by a cloverleaf pattern and the year of construction. In
recent years the church has been painted a dark yellow, which no doubt had some of
the more conservative members of the congregation shaking their heads, but, contrasting
with the red-tiled roof, the effect is rather pleasing. The river originally came almost to
the church steps, but reclamation during the latter half of the twentieth century has added
enough land for a congregation to gather. A church office and community hall was added
in 1963. Some of the church land was sold of to members of the congregation in 1916,
and as a result the lane has several very pleasant old wooden houses dating from this time.
The cemetery is at the entrance to the lane, separated from Charoen Nakhorn by a high
wall, and is immaculately kept.
Immediately next to Samray Church are the remains of one of those industries that
brought so many people into the locality during the second half of the nineteenth century.
The origins of the Wang Lee family business have been described earlier on in the section
on the old Thonburi harbour. There were five rice mills owned by the family, three of them
being located here. One was on the site of the present Anantara Hotel: it burned down
