The abandoned church just outside the village of Oddington

Today we went to Oddington church. Inside the church is a wall painting ( mural ), the mural takes up most of one wall. The mural shows the final judgement or Doomsday. It was painted for people who could not read or write. It taught people what will happen to them when they die. The painting dates back to 1340, is 32 feet long,15 feet high and is possibly the largest example of a Doom painting in this country.

In the centre of the top half of the painting is Jesus seated on a rounded object, possibly a moon. He is holding a shepherd's crook and wearing a crown of thorns. On either side of him there are disciples. The disciple on his left is holding 3 nails, guess why? Under Jesus is a round object, which could be the moon. On either side of the round object are angels blowing horns to wake the dead. Right at the bottom of the picture are people rising from their graves. On Jesus's right is heaven, on Jesus's left is hell. Some of the dead people are going to each of the after worlds. Heaven is shown as a castle because a castle is safe and can keep out unwanted people. The entrance to Hell is shown as a monster, people are being herded into the jaws of Hell. Above the jaws are some punishments that can be expected to happen when the people reach Hell, for example somebody being hung, look at the picture below.

Here the picture shows many of the terrifying events that happen in Hell.

In Heaven people are queuing to enter the castle. A person is climbing the wall and is being helped by an angel on the top of the tower. Look at the picture below.

We would recommend that you visit this church.

Click here for more pictures of our visit.

Page made by Heather McMillan and Katherine Bosworth