![Doom, detail, the Damned [112KB]](sleighd1.jpg)
![Doom, South Leigh, detail, centre [113KB]](sleighd.jpg)
This Doom in the traditional position above the chancel arch is unusual in the absence from it of the judging Christ. In some cases this is because the roof has been lowered and the upper part of the Doom lost, but that does not seem to have happened here. Instead the human drama of the Resurrection General on earth is concentrated on, with two scrolls at the top centre, the one on the left still quite readable and bearing the words ‘Venite, benedicti patris mei’ [Come, ye blessed of my Father] and the other to the right reading
‘Discedite, maledicti’ [Depart, ye cursed]. Two angels with trumpets swoop down to announce the End and the dead, many of them women, rise from their graves. Those on the left look surprised but generally tranquil, while those on the right - a man with his hands raised in horror and a woman with her head in her hands - are already despairing, perhaps at the sight of a yellow devil, accompanied by a coiled serpent (just above the edge of the chancel arch) pushing chained souls towards Hell.
Below is a detail of the righthand side showing the chained damned. There are not enough legs to match the number of heads or torsos shown here, but the upper classes are well represented, with a king and queen (second and third left), several tonsured priests, and a bishop with a mitre at the right. More yellow devils pull them into Hell, dragging them along a black surface with dull yellowish flames rising from it. The red Mouth of Hell looms on the return of the chancel arch wall at the right. Here is a link (also at the top of this page) to this detail, and to Heaven on the opposite wall. Click for Heaven and Hell
The addition of another painting, of the seldom-found saint Clement, means that all the paintings at South Leigh, including the Seven Deadly Sins and the Weighing of Souls are now on the site.
| Woman Donor, Doom at North Cove |