The parish of Hoe lies in central Norfolk about 2 miles north of the market town of East Dereham. Hoe is a tiny place, little more than a hamlet lying on the lane leading from Swanton Morley towards Gressenhall. The parish was almost certainly a "closed parish" where a single landowner held all land and restricted entry thus no formal village developed. Most of Hoe consists of scattered farm and cottages across what was also a small acreage, around 1,300 acres grouped around the eponymous Hall. Like most Norfolk parishes Hoe earned its living from arable farming albeit the close proximity of the Wendling Beck's valley may have provided grazing too. The only invasion of Hoe's rural pace was the construction of the mid-Norfolk railway between East Dereham and Fakenham which passed through the parish albeit without providing a station, the line was one which was axed following the Beching recommendations.

St Andrew's church sits next to the hall at the main junction of the hamlet. A simple and rather small church of nave, chancel and the stump of a tower. Pevsner is light on dating details as the church was restored in both 18th and 19th centuries. Documentary evidence for the former tower give it a date of 1509 for its construction which is not inconsistent with the style of the church as late Perpendicular. The nave was largely rebuilt in 1794 and the chancel in 1820 resulting in the loss of most other dating details. The church sits behind a low flint and brick wall in a churchyard that is the bane of photographers in that it is totally entombed within trees making it almost impossible to adequately photograph.