The parish of Dersingham lies in northwestern Norfolk about 8 miles north of the port of King's Lynn. Dersingham is a coastal settlement sitting on the former route of the busy A149 road (which thankfully bypasses the village to its west nowadays) which forms Norfolk's coast road from King's Lynn around to Cromer. Despite being a coastal settlement, Dersingham is more than 2 miles from the sea being separated by extensive reclaimed grazing marshes from the waters of The Wash. Dersingham is a substantial village, one of a string of settlements which sit on the break of slope where the marsh meets rising ground underpinned by chalk. The upper part of the village sits over 40 feet higher than the line of the A149. The village would have had a mixed economy at the time of this transcript, arable agriculture on the higher ground supplemented by pastoral grazing on the salt marshes; with no port the influence of the sea was minimal beyond wildfowling & shellfish harvesting. Today Dersingham is both a commuter village for King's Lynn and also a substantial village in its own right with most facilities still active, a tourism industry has grown up supporting the attractions of the local natural environment.

St Nicholas' church sits at the eastern edge of Dersingham on the highest ground within the village. The church is large as befits the size of the congregation consisting of long arcades in addition to the standard western tower, nave & chancel. Like many Norfolk churches the building spans the stylistic divide between Decorated & Perpendicular periods of fashion. St Nicholas has chancel, arcades & northern doorway from the Decorated period whilst the nave and western tower are from the later Perpendicular style. This probably represents a continuous build period passing through the fashion changes rather than a restoration of an earlier complete Decorated church. The use of these two styles places the build into the 14th and 15th centuries, a period of major church building in the county. Of course there was the usual Victorian refurbishment, much of the roofs date from that time whilst the vestry, organ chamber and the battlemented parapet (complete with angels) date from 1911. The church stands on the eastern side of Manor Road, the B1440 road heading southeast past the nearby Sandringham estate. The site has two main entries at northwest & southern ends, a broad pathway connects the two, the site is relatively open with few obstacles to photography.