Wenhaston "Doom" church

Wenhaston Doom Church
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  • ...and on the right, those souls which are Hell bound.

  • Hell’s mouth is also shown on the right and is often represented by the gaping mouth of a sea-creature.

  • The Weighing of Souls may also be included

The Wenhaston painting unlike most “Doom” paintings was not painted on the wall but on wide boards which were attached to the wall, and this is why it still exists to this day; albeit with a few bits missing.

The following is copied directly from Christopher Somerville’s book as if his writing doesn’t convince you to buy his book, nothing will!

“Wenhaston Doom is a vivid reminder of just how real the concepts of Heaven and Hell were to the pre-Reformation mind. Christ sits in glory on a rainbow above a scene of Judgement in which the souls of the departed are being weighed in a large balance. The Saved troop off with meek smiles of relief to the gates of Heaven, where St Peter waits to welcome them into the celestial city. The Damned, however have nothing but ghastly torments as their portion. The Devil himself, with outsize warty nose and fiendish grin, stands beside the balance, taking a keen interest in the outcome of the weighing. At the bottom right-hand corner of the painting Hell is depicted as a gigantic beast, perhaps a man-eating fish, into whose yawning jaws a cast of triumphant red-skinned devils are loading their catch of naked sinners.

Background Photograph taken of Wenhaston Church, Alvis Rally, 2011
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