Salisbury has the best doom painting in Britain. A mind blowing piece of medieval art in the Church of St Thomas a Becket.
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The Doom painting at the church of St Thomas a Becket, Salisbury. Less than a ten minute walk from the mighty, Salisbury Cathedral.
What is a Doom painting and what was the point of a Doom painting?
Medieval churches were once full of colour with their walls covered with wall paintings. Few people could read in medieval times, the Bible was written in latin and so most people could only discover Christian teachings from what the priest said in a service. To re-enforce the word of God, doom paintings were created. Pope Gregory (540-604 AD) wrote, “A picture is displayed in churches in order that those who do not know letters may at least ready seeing on the walls what they are unable to read in books”. Doom paintings focus on the last judgement when Jesus comes back to earth, souls from the dead rise out of their graves and they are judged whether they should go to heaven or hell! Heaven is always depicted as a beautiful and blissful, whereas Hell is shown as the place of one’s worst nightmares. The basic idea of such a painting was to guide Christians away from sin (wrongdoing). Doom paintings are not confined to English churches and can be found elsewhere in Europe, especially in Italy and Spain. In his book on medieval wall paintings of which Doom paintings are just one type, Roger Rosewell writes, “Together with stained glass windows and other furnishings, such paintings helped to transform even the most humble church into a place of holiness and wonder, divine mystery and miraculous salvation”. William of Malmesbury writing sometime between 1096 and 1143 wrote that a church was not considered complete until its walls glistened with colour.
The Doom painting in St Thomas a Becket’s church was created between 1470 and 1500 but like all Doom paintings , it was whitewashed over during the “Reformation” when the official religion was changed from Roman Catholicism to a version of “Protestantism”. Protestant churches were not allowed to have wall paintings, stained glass windows or statues because they could well end up worshipping the statues or images and not God. In the Bible there is the story of Moses coming down from the mountain only to find people worshipping a golden calf. Moses was furious and reminded them of one of the God’s commandments that ‘Thou shalt not worship any other God but me’.
The painting was rediscovered in 1819 but was re-whitewashed for some reason. However, it was rediscovered once again in 1876 and the whitewash was removed for good, in 1881. It was restored in Victorian times and again, sympathetically, in 2019.
Who painted this Doom painting? Sadly, we do not know. Most wall paintings, were created by “professional journeymen” according to Rosewell, who travelled from church to church although some were painted by outstanding artists who took months to complete the work.
Why visit St Thomas a Becket church Salisbury?
It houses the largest, most complete and best preserved Doom painting.
It is a great representation about what was going on in the Medieval mind, especially with regard to religious views and teachings.
It is probably totally different from what you would expect to be on a church wall. It is absolutely stunning or to use a modern overused phrase, awesome.
It is simply a wonderful piece of medieval art and is in excellent condition.
What is there to see in the painting?
Everybody in Medieval Britain and most of Western Europe were Christians. Some parts of Spain and Sicily were Moslem but the rest were Christians having to go to church every Sunday. Why did they believe in God? They had to believe in something. All human beings ask questions and need answers to what is happening in their world. Without enough scientific knowledge to explain things, people turned to religion and got their answers. God could be seen as controlling everything. They could sleep easily with answers to their huge questions. From a very early age they would attend church services with few people avoiding them and as a consequence, they were at least outwardly accepting christian teachings. By seeing these Christian teachings in the form of wall paintings, Doom paintings, statues, and stained glass windows the Christian stories and messages were absorbed from this early age until the day they died.
In the photo above we can see what happens on “Judgement day, when Jesus comes down to judge everyone. All the dead rise from their graves to travel to their final destiny. Cremation was forbidden by Christianity and so you see naked people who came into the world naked and would leave it naked, except for their shrouds which they are casting off. One of the dead is wearing a mitre, a bishop’s hat but the Doom will show that everyone will be treated equally without preference or favour.
In the next photo, Angels are helping them move towards being judged. In the top left a king has risen too.
All of these souls are being welcomed into heaven. On the left two kings or a king and queen are being welcomed into heaven and on the right A king and queen plus a pope are about to enter.
Heaven-Jesus in judgement. Beneath Jesus are the 12 Apostles who are judging the 12 tribes of Israel. To the left of Jesus is the Virgin Mary in her traditional blue and to the right of Jesus is John the Baptist. John predicted the imminence (coming soon) of the final Judgement and that everyone should get ready plus as his name implies, he baptised Jesus. In the next 2 photos there are closeups to show more detail.
Several references to the Bible can be seen here. His hands and feet show blood and the nail marks of the crucifixion. On the right of the photo is a pillar on which he was scourged or whipped before his crucifixion. To the left of Jesus, is his crucifixion cross and on it a “crown of thorns” which was placed on Jesus’ head when he was on the cross. The crown was a mocking gesture by the Roman soldiers to Jesus’ authority.
Above. The top of the photo shows more of heaven but the bottom half shows the route to Hell.Satan is in the bottom middle and beckoning more to come his way. Note there are other hellish creatures in the bottom left, all to show Hell was not a nice place in which to spend eternity!
Above. A slightly lower photo showing Satan who cheekily or arrogantly has his right foot beyond the painting. Next to Satan is “the dishonest ale wife” with her jug of beer. She represents people who sell short measures, in other words she charges for more than she serves! She is definite bound for Hell as are all the people within the chain. Here you will notice a bishop and two kings! Christians believed , “God is no respecter of rank or positioning everyone shall be judged equally according to their sins!”
Above. Here is the mouth of Hell with plenty of flames for sinners.At the bottom is a miser, clinging hold of his money bags. Christians believed that all sinners would end up in Hell. This is shown by the miser being seized and marks on his arms where he has been grabbed tightly.
Above. In the last section, people may have tried to escape but are being burned by the fires of Hell. There is also the message, “Nulla east redemption”, there is no escape for the wicked! Unlike other Doom paintings, Hell in this painting does not possess any instruments of torture such as pitchforks or spits where humans are roasted/barbecued over a fire. The dragon’s mouth, the images of satan and his associates plus the flames was obviously deemed sufficient to deter humans from committing sins which would condemn them to Hell forever!
Some other interesting features
To the right of the Doom painting are some other wall paintings concerning the story of Jesus. I am not a religious expert, and may be entirely wrong, but I believe that the first one is showing the Archangel Gabriel telling the Virgin Mary that she is going to have a child who will be the son of God. The second one shows a pregnant Mary and a pregnant Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist (the man who will baptise Jesus). Her pregnancy was also a miracle because apparently “she was past child bearing years”. The bottom photo shows a familiar part of the Christmas story, the three wisemen delivering gifts to the recently born, baby Jesus.
Above . If you look up you will be able to see several carved wooden angels looking down on you, some in better condition than others.
Below. When the Doom painting was whitewashed over, this copy of Queen Elizabeth I coat of arms was placed over the white wall. Apparently, the two animals, known as “supporters”, were later changed from a lion and the Welsh dragon to a lion and a unicorn.
Essential information
Getting there;
Please note the church is sometimes referred to as St Thomas’s and also St Thomas a Becket’s.
Sat Nav ; SP1 1BA
By car
Salisbury lies on the intersection of the A30, the A36 and the A338 and is at the end of the A343, A345, A354 and A360. From London, take the M3 then the A303 and the A345, approximately a 1½ - 2 hour drive. Parking;there are several car parks in Salisbury. We used “Old George Mall” which was a short walk to both the church of St Thomas a Becket and in a different direction, the amazing Salisbury Cathedral. It also has public toilets.
You can also use Salisbury’s Park and Ride:
Beehive Park and Ride (North) GPS SP4 6BT
Wilton Park and Ride (North West) GPS SP2 0BT
London Road Park and Ride (North East) GPS SP1 3HP
Petersfinger Park and Ride (South East) GPS SP5 3BZ
Britford Park and Ride (South) GPS SP5 4DS
Click here for the Park and Ride web page
Bus or Coach
Salisbury has regular bus services from Southampton, Bournemouth, Ringwood, Swindon, Marlborough, Andover and Amesbury as well as coach services from Bath, Oxford, Brighton, Bristol and Cambridge.
Train
Two main rail routes intersect at Salisbury so getting here by train from London, Bath and the West Country is easy. The Cathedral is less than a 10-minute level walk from the station.
Southern Railway operate direct trains from London Waterloo to Salisbury (journey time 90 minutes).
First Great Western run routes from Cardiff, Bristol, Bath, Portsmouth and Southampton.
For train timetables visit the National Rail website.
Tickets;
There are no tickets, entrance is free but the church would try much appreciate a donation.
Opening Times;
the church is open from 10.00 am until “early evening” (their term)
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The old phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words” is very appropriate when looking at the magnificent Wenhaston doom painting. In the medieval world where few people could read, a painting of the events of the “Last Judgement” would carefully show what was going to happen to souls when the world would come to an end. This would guide people to manage their lives to ensure a wonderful future. The picture of Hell left no one in doubt that sinners would have a horrible future. The doom painting at Wenhaston is in remarkable condition with very little missing or incomprehensible.