The city was one of the oldest communities in the history of the southern part of Thailand. It is believed that it was the location of the ancient kingdom of Lanka Suka which had its boundary covering the area of Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat of Thailand, Kalantan and Tarang Kanu of Malaysia according to the documents of China, Java, Malayia, and Arab. It was a port with long wide trading history with the foreigners since B.E.12. The structure of the ancient town was the large oval shape in the area of 9 square kilometres. There are three connecting towns as the followings:

 Ban Wat Ancient With a square in the centre of town, and is surrounded by moats, the town has more than 25 scattered and ruined ancient hills in the western and northern area.

 Ban Cha-le Ancient Town With a pond in the centre of town and is surrounded by square-shape moats, this town is only one kilometre north of Ban Wat Ancient Town. The most important ancient monument is the ruined religious venue made of bricks, with large square base. Due to the discovery of several ancient materials in the area, there is proof that this venue must have been the Buddhist community.

 Ban Prawae Ancient Town It is a small rectangular town with 4 forts in the corners. Also, there were canals connecting with Ban Ja-le in the north.