Parish Church Of St Paul

The Parish Church of St Paul, located on Amwell Street in Hoddesdon, dates primarily from 1732, with significant additions and alterations in 1864-5, 1888, and attributions to J Clarke and A Blomfield. The church is constructed of red brick with stone dressings and machine tile roofs.

The nave features a cut brick cornice with alternating sunken panels and round-headed windows of two lights, incorporating an oculus. The west end incorporates a restored belfry, a segmental-headed two-light window, and a modern gabled porch displaying a 19th-century carved stone tympanum. The east end has a three-gabled design with stone banding and windows of five and two lights, featuring plate tracery. A campanile tower is centrally located on the south side, displaying open and blind lancet windows, a pyramid roof with hipped dormers, and an octagonal stair turret on the west side topped with a finial.

Inside the nave, Doric wall pilasters stand on panelled plinths. A gallery at the west end has a central pediment feature supported by fluted Doric columns and a rich cornice, with rusticated attics on the sides and centre and a coat of arms on the pediment. A staircase is present on the west wall, characterized by triplets of balusters. The chancel and flanking chapels are designed in an early 13th-century French Gothic style, with wagon roofs and a two-bay arcade of short columns having leaf-carved capitals. A south aisle window is attributed to Shrigley and Hunt, showcasing good glass from around 1862. Further stained glass is present in the northeast window, dating to 1880.