" The parish is northwest of Belchamp Otten and Belchamp Walter, in the parliamentary constituency of Braintree, and part of the Stour Valley. It had a population of 331 (2011 census). The parish includes the hamlet of Knowl Green.

Arthur Golding, the 16th-century poet, grew up at the manor and is buried in the churchyard of St Andrew's; a memorial to him is within the church. General Sir Timothy Creasey KCB OBE, a British Army officer who became General Officer Commanding of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the commander of the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces, is buried in the churchyard.

The church has a ring of 6 bells. https://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?tower=16317

The Half Moon public house was the location for a number of pub scenes in the BBC drama series Lovejoy.

Belchamp St Paul is the scene of the climax of M.R. James' ghost story Count Magnus.

" The secondary name applied to this parish, is derived from its appropriation to the cathedral church of St. Paul's in London, to which it was given by the Saxon king Athelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great.
It extends northward from Belchamp Walter and Belchamp Otton , and is computed to be about eight miles in circumference; distant from Sudbury five, from Castle Hedingham six, and from London fifty - three miles.
An annual cattle fair is held on the eleventh of December, on Cole Green. "

" It was in possession of the cathedral at the time of the general survey, and was rated at five hides, in the reign of Henry the First; the demesnes being five hundred acres of arable, fourteen of meadow, and one hundred and twenty of wood. The dean and chapter held it of the king, and have retained possession to the present time, except during the Commonwealth, when it was sold to Thomas Cook, Esq. of Pebmarsh, Richard Blackwall, Esq., John St. John, M.D., and John Sparrow, Esq. of the Inner Temple, London.
At the Restoration, the dean and chapter recovered their possessions; but during Mr. Cook's occupation, he had deprived this estate of its timber. "

" The Golding family held all, or the greater part of this estate, under the dean and chapter This family was seated at Halstead, in the reign of Edward the First; and one of their descendants, Thomas Golding, was of Cavendish, in Suffolk.
He married Elizabeth , daughter of John Worthie, Esq. of Blamsters, in Halstead, and had by her John Golding, Esq. of St. Paul's Belchamp Hall and Halstead, one of the auditors of the exchequer . He held several parcels of land in soccage of the dean and chapter , and had also estates in Belchamp Otton, Belchamp St. Ethelbert, and in Halstead ; and also in Hempsted and Bumpsted Helion . "

" He married, first, Elizabeth, widow of Reginald Hamond, of Ramsden Belhouse, by whom he had Thomas, William, Margaret , and Elizabeth . His second wife was Ursula , daughter and co - heiress of William Merston , of Horton , in Surrey , and had by her Arthur , Henry , George , Edward ; and Frances , married to Matthew Bacon , of Shelfhanger, in Norfolk ; and Dorothy , married to a gentleman of the name of Dockwra. Sir Thomas Golding , the eldest son , was one of the commissioners for taking account of the chantry lands in Essex; and did not fail to improve the opportunity this commission offered of securing a considerable fortune . In 1561 , he was sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire, and of Essex alone in 1569. He married Elizabeth Twisden, a widow, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Royden, Esq. of Peckham, in Kent. George Golding, Esq. of Postlingford, in Suffolk , is supposed to have been his descendant. "

" William , the other son of Sir Thomas , was of this parish , and married Elizabeth, one of the daughters and co - heiresses of Edmund West, Esq . of Cornard, in Suffolk, widow of John Buckenham, Esq . by whom he had Edmund and Dorothy. Margaret Golding was married to John de Vere , the sixteenth earl of Oxford, and by him bad Edward, the seventeenth earl; and a daughter named Mary, married to Peregrine Bertie , lord Willoughby of Eresby , ancestor of the dukes of Ancaster. After her husband's decease , this lady was married to Charles Tyrell, Esq . , and on her death , in 1568 , was buried at Earl's Colne . "

" Wakes Hall, in this parish , formerly belonged to Christopher Layer, Esq. whose Wakes ancestors had for a considerable number of years been in possession of this estate : he had the misfortune to be concerned in the state plot of 1722. Afterwards the estate became the property of the Ruggles family. "

" The houses which constitute the village , are chiefly on the borders of unenclosed Colne ground, named Cole Green, where there was formerly a chapel, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, with a field of two acres, named Walespoles Brook : it was appropriated to the use of a chantry, founded by John Coker, and at the suppression granted to Thomas Golding, Esq. "

" The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, has a nave, north aisle, and chancel, and a square tower containing five bells. The nave is separated from the aisle by plain pillars, supporting Gothic arches: the whole building is in good repair, with a fine large window in the chancel, in which there are some remains of stained glass. This parish being an exempt, or peculiar, belonging to the dean and chapter of St. Paul's, they are ordinaries of this place, and have the great tithes, and are patrons of the vicarage. There is an ancient tomb on the south side of the chancel, with effigies and coats of arms on brass, inlaid, and underneath is the following inscription, in ancient characters, also on a brass plate. Inscription. “Here lyeth the bodie of Elizabeth, one of the daughters and co-heiresses of Edward Best, late of Barnard, Esquier, first married to John Buckingham, Esquier, by whom she had Edmonde, yet lyvyng, and Dorothy, deceased; and after married to William Golding, Esquier, by whom she had Edward and Elizabeth, deceased, and Margaret and Mary, yet lyvyng. Obiit twentieth of Mai, 1591. " There is an almshouse on Cole Green for four poor aged persons of this parish. "

" This parish, in 1821, contained six hundred and eighty - five, and, in 1831, eight hundred and eight inhabitants. "

" The Tithe Award of Belchamp St Paul’s (Essex Record Office D/CT 25a), dated 1840, shows a rent-charge of £303 payable to the Dean & Chapter of St Pauls for the Great Tithes, of which the lessees were Samuel Holland, DD, of Poyns, Sussex, Ann Stewart, widow, of Kings Wood, Surrey, Thomas Baacton of the East Indies, Horgan Charles Chase of Nottingham Place, Middlesex, James du Pac Alexander of Coleman Street, London, Rebecca Hughes of Baker Street, Middlesex, Henry Leadbeater of Hartest, Suffolk. £207-3-0 was payble to Rev John Vandermeulen, vicar, for Small Tithes.

The whole parish measured 2557 acres 24 perches, of which 2063 acres 1 rood 29 perches were arable, 255a 0r 20p meadow and pasture, 141a 0r 29p wood, 25a 1r 27p homesteads and ponds, 14a 0r 18p cottages and gardens.
The Tithe Commissioners were William Blamire and Rd. Jones, the Valuer Robert Franklin. The Tithe Map (ERO: D/CT 25b) was surveyed by J. Hasell in 1839 at a scale of 3 chains to an inch (26.6” to a mile).
It was countersigned by Roger Kynaston, Assistant Tithe Commissioner. "

" Æthelstan, king of the English, confirmed 12 hides at Bylcham cum Wicham to St Pauls in ?961x971. Bylcham was required to provide one man for ship duty against invasions in c.995x998 (Hart, 1971; Kemble, 2007).

In Domesday Book, 1086, the canons of St Pauls held Belcham as a manor for 5 hides (Morris, 1883). Watts (2004) translates this from Old English bylc + ham, ‘homestead at the hill called Bylc’, or belc, ‘house with a roof of beams’. Early, the first element became confused with French belchamp, ‘beautiful field’ (Reaney, 1935). The demesnes were 150 acres [of arable] and 14 acres of meadow, 120 acres of wood, in Lane Hele and Doreleche 15 acres. During the Commonweath in 1649, Sir John Wollaston and others, trustees for the sale of St Paul’s lands, sold it to Thomas Cooke of Pebmarsh and others. St Paul’s recovered it after the Restoration (Morant, 1768). The church dedicated to St Andrew was rebuilt by 1490; the west tower was restored in 1901. Paul’s Hall is early 16th century, timber-framed with brick nogging. The barn dates from the 11th century, rebuilt c.1200. Turners, in Church Street, is an aisled hall, dendro-dated to 1328/9 (Andrews, 1997; Pevsner, 2007). The Hundred name is recorded in Domesday Book variously as Hidincfort, Hidincforda, Hinding(a)forda, -fort, Hiding(h)afort, Hidingh(e)-, Hidingeforda, and Hedingfort (Morris, 1983) which Reaney (1935) discusses as related to Hedingham, deriving from an Old English personal name Heðin, though it might be evidence of Old Scandinavian Heðinn. This raises the possiblity of evidence of Scandinavian influence in the north of the county, mainly attributed in Tendring Hundred (Kemble, 2007). Christy (1926) places the Hundred moot by the ford through the River Colne at Castle Hedingham where there was small mound. "

Andrews, D., 1997. Essex Archaeology & History, 28, 228. Turners, an Aisled Hall.
Christy, M., 1926. The Essex Hundred Moots. Trans Essex Archaeological Society, ns 18(3), 185.
Hart, C., 1971. Early Charters of Essex, Leicester.
Kemble, J., 2007. Essex Place-names, Places, Streets & People. Historical Publications, London.
Morant, P., 1768. History & Antiquities of the County of Essex. ii, 328.
Morris, J., 1983. Domesday Book - Essex. Phillimore.
Pevsner, N., Bettley, J., 2007. Buildings of England - Essex. Yale.
Reaney, P., 1935. Place-names of Essex. Cambridge.
Watts, V., 2004. Dictionary of English Place-names. Cambridge.