Sunday November 17th. Pentecost 26

Chaldon Doom Painting (Our First Reading this Sunday is Daniel  12.1-3)

Situated in St Peter and St Paul’s Church Chaldon, Surrey, it is possibly the oldest Doom painting in the UK, painted sometime around 1200 AD. It is unique, there is nothing to compare it with.

The painting shows the Biblical Day of Judgement with, in the middle, the “Ladder of Salvation” where souls of the “good” can climb up to heaven having to go through “Purgatory” where they are judged and then allowed into heaven. On the other hand “sinners” go from Purgatory back down to Hell where they stay, suffering for eternity. From this it is often given the title of a “Purgatorial Ladder” or “ Ladder of Souls”. The bottom half of the painting is devoted to scenes from hell and focuses on the “Seven Deadly Sins.”