To finish up my report of last Monday's outing, from Deerhurst we headed home on the A44 highway, which took us through the Cotswolds. We didn't stop in the famous Stow-on-the-Wold (though it was looking especially lovely as we drove through), but in a village just two miles beyond it called Oddington. Great name.
I learned about Oddington from a handy book I had along called England's Thousand Best Churches. The author gave Oddington's parish church one of the highest ratings, and when we arrived we could see why. It was really quite magical - even David got quite enthusiastic about it and wants to return.
A big part of its charm is its location, which is not in the center of the village but a half-mile outside it in the middle of the woods. This is because the village moved due to plague. The "new" village was quite pretty too, and we even stopped so I could hop out and take a picture of this cottage:
Where we pulled over, a friendly man was out closing his gate for the evening. When I got out of the car with my camera he joked, "Are you going to take my picture?" So naturally I said yes, and did. He then informed me that the cottage across the street was the oldest one in the village.
We arrived at the church at dusk and the light was just gorgeous:
The lighting situation was not as ideal for the inside of the church, which we were pleased and surprised to find unlocked that late in the evening. There seemed to be no artificial lighting and it was quite dark (our photos make it look much lighter than it was).
But we still managed to get a few photos before the sun went down completely, which is good because it was a very pleasant church with medieval murals covering an entire inside wall. To battle with the low light and faded murals, I even went back to grab the tripod out of the car, which normally we are much too lazy to bother with!
The main wall painting dates from about 1340 and depicts the Last Judgment. This was a rather common theme in medieval church art.
Like all murals in England, this was whitewashed over at the Reformation and remained hidden until 20th-century restorations. This one is in pretty bad shape, but it's still notable because its the largest of its type in the country. It is 32 feet long and 15 feet high. At the center top is Christ in Glory, with his feet resting on the moon. Below him, two angels blow their trumpets to resurrect the dead.
At the bottom center of the mural, people rise out of their graves to be judged and meet their fate. (As always, they are naked but not anatomically correct.) On the left side, the righteous approach the gates of heaven, which is shown as a castle. One guy has bypassed the line and climbs over the wall, assisted by angels. On the right side, the wicked are prodded towards the jaws of hell and demons in striped clothes torture them in various ways. One man hangs from a gallows and some other unfortunates are boiled in a cauldron.
There is another wall painting to the right of this one, which has a much lighter subject. It was painted two centuries later, in 1520, and represents a morality play called "Magnificence." It is believed to be a satire on Cardinal Wolsey, Henry VIII's right hand man and the founder of Christ Church College in Oxford (he wanted to call it "Cardinal College"). Wolsey was also Lord of the Manor of Oddington.
<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2211/1676086962_1eb8af4d3f_z.jpg?zz=1" alt=""magnificence" mural (c.1520)" /> The "Magnificence" painting with allegorical characters
The churchyard was so pretty too, surrounded by a forest and sprinkled with autumn leaves. Out back was a funny tomb of a lady in a dress with her shoes sticking out, which dates from the 1620s.
