Siri-Phat Rice Mill: Golden Age of Agriculture Industry in Phayao

Abstract

The Siriphat Rice Mill is located in Phayao City, in the community called Nong-Rhabu. Historically, the Nong-Rhabu was a traditional community, used to be a centre of wholesale trade of agricultural products since 1916. However, due to the changing social and economic conditions and the creations of a new road and the city market which had become the trade centre instead, the community declines, while the Siripat Rice Mill deteriorates. Surveyed in 2016, the Siripat Rice Mill is no longer in use as a rice mill. Some are transforming many parts of their original functions, while others are dismantled. However, its structure and architectural style remain. Apart from its architectural values and the wide-span wooden structure which demonstrate traces of uses in the past, the Siripat Rice Mill also reflects the prosperity of this community.

This research aimed to explore the Siripat Rice Mill's history, to survey the mill's location and layout of the building, and to study the remaining structure in order to analyse its architectural significance in terms of functions and structure. Moreover, the study surveyed the opinions of peoples in Nong-Rhabu community and the area in front of the mill about their memories and the history of the mill. The result found is that the Siriphat Rice Mill is one of the buildings that people always mentioned when recollecting the community's prosperous past and that it always involved with the occupation and lifestyle of peoples in the community.