HISTORY OF THE DOOM

By repute, the churches of St. Michael, St Peter and St Stephen were built by abbot Ulsinus of St Albans [ca. 948AD] for the use of pilgrims to the shrine of St Alban, Britain's protomartyr. But see also a discussion of dates.

The Saxon church was built of flint and Roman brick reclaimed from the ruins of Roman Verulamium. It was built over the ruins of the administrative centre and like many churches built on pagan sites it was dedicated to St Michael, the Archangel.

It was dark and draughty with an earth floor and open to a roof of wooden shingles. To accommodate the increased number of pilgrims at the beginning of the 12th century, the churches were enlarged and improved.

St Michael’s doubled its floor area, increased its height to the present level and installed six windows, with glass, at clerestory level. The building work was completed in 1220 and the decoration of the walls was begun.

The painters (not monks) working in St Albans at this time were also employed by the King at Westminster Abbey; they painted the three westernmost piers in the Abbey itself; very little of the work remains.

In St Michael's they painted a representation of the Last Judgement, or Doom, on the chancel wall facing west. The wooden segment alone has survived and originally fitted, as a tympanum, under the chancel arch.

The painting, which is best seen under a strong light, is a rare example of 13th century work. It is the original oil painting and has survived untouched thanks to wooden panelling that covered it for 350 years and to the thick layer of varnish applied in the 19th century.

The vertical strip of unpainted wood to the left of centre marks the position of a large crucifix, or Rood, which was flanked by an image of St Michael. These stood on the Rood Beam, forming a Rood Loft. Access was from the Rood Stair, the entrance to which can be seen in the NE corner of the Lady Chapel. Disagreements between Church and State in the 16th century might require temporary removal of images considered ‘idolatrous’; it seems likely that the Rood Stair was, and may still be, a convenient repository for these religious relics.

At some time in that period the whole chancel wall was boarded over and probably limewashed. Other churches painted over, or physically removed, their wall paintings and the fact that St Michael’s undertook the effort and expense of covering it in this way implies that the work was valued even at that time.

The ‘Restoration’ of the church in 1810 revealed the Doom painting and is described in Henry Cook’s note. Despite successive layers of limewash it remained partially visible until the early part of this century.

The tie-beams of the 13th century roof were kept when the roof was rebuilt at its present, lower, pitch in the 15th century. The painted red and black decoration of the earlier period can still be seen on the easternmost beam.

Interior of the church as seen by a pilgrim coming in at the West door in 1300 showing the position of the Rood and the tympanum above the chancel screen.