St Nicholas Old Church - pt 1

As I've mentioned, almost every township regardless of size has its own Parish Church. East of Stow is 2 tiny villagees - Upper and Lower Oddington, population a few years ago was around 477. The church is St. Nicholas and like every other church here, it's loaded with history. I've taken a lot of photos both inside the church and in the grave yard; therefore I'm going to break this post into 2 parts. And rather than try to regurgitate the information I picked up there, I'll make it easy on myself and share parts of it as written.

St Nicholas Old Church, Oddington, Gloucestershire

inside St Nicholas

bell tower - oldest bell of the 6 dates 1684

St Nicholas Church, Oddington is well known for its magnificent medieval wall paintings. most churches in the Middle Ages would have been similarly decorated, and these pictures were a means of religious instruction for a largely illiterate society.

The walls were first plastered, and covered with a thin layer of lime putty. The picture was painted directly on to the surface of the dampened wall, using a mixture of natural color pigments with a clear lime water to which skimmed milk had been added to improve the durability of the painting. The colors included red and yellow ochre (natural earth pigment) which could be blended to provide various shades of red and brown, lime for white, and charcoal for black. A large ball of reddle (red mineral) was recently unearthed when a grave was being dug in the south extension of the churchyard.

14th Century 'Doom' Painting

The main wall painting in the church is the 14th Century 'Doom" or Last Judgement, at the western end of the north wall of the nave. This is dated to about 1340, is 32 feet long and 15 feet high, and is possibly the largest depiction of a Doom in this country.

righteous being welcomed into Kingdom of Heaven by angels

At the top, our Lord is depicted, throned in glory, surrounded by the apostles and saints, one of whom is holding the instruments of the Passion - nails and a lance. His feet are resting on the glassy sea (or the moon) and below him two angels are sounding the "last trump" to awaken the dead. At the bottom of the picture is the earth (which would originally have continued to floor level) with the dead rising from their graves to be judged. The fall figure, standing (or kneeling?) crowned, slightly to the west is probably the Virgin Mary, interceding on behalf of the resurrected souls.

wicked being escorted into hell

In the interest of space, I will say that Matthew 25:31-46 is depicted with the righteous being welcomed into heaven and the wicked driven into hell (lower right edge).

When originally painted, with its vivid coloring, the picture will have had a powerful visual impact. The worshiper entering the church through the south porch would have been confronted by the frightening vision of the damned going to hell. The message was essentially simple; there was no suggestion of the love of God or of forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. :(


Another painting called "Magnificence" (dated 1520) is immediately to the east of the Doom and in a nut shell, there is still some debate about its meaning.

The Trumpet Shall Sound

Jacobean pulpit in front of nave, St Nicholas