The parish of St Helen lies in the northeastern portion of the city of Norwich, tucked away between the close of the cathedral and the nearby course of the River Wensum. Much of the parish was replaced in modern times by industrial premises but traces remain along Bishopgate on which sits the church. The parish was also the site of the city's earliest hospital, the Great Hospital. A few parishioners also crossed from the eastern side of the Wensum in what was to become annexed into the parish of Thorpe Hamlet & a fair number of military personnel made their way down from the nearby Barracks to baptise at St Helen. Otherwise this was a fairly typical parish of a less well-to-do area of the city, dominated initially by weavers and demonstrating that trade's decline during the period of this transcript. Today the area is still a little bit of a backwater within the city, the Cathedral Close & grounds of King Edward private school shielding on one side whilst the Wensum forms a moat to the other.

St Helen's church sits on the northern side of Bishopgate as it bends sharply around an extension of the Cathedral Close. The church has unusual origins in that it formed part of the fabric of the Great Hospital. This early hospital, founded in 1249 to care for "decrepit chaplains" and "poor sick people", had a fairly standard monastic infirmary layout with the exception of its southern porch and transept which, together with a tower formed St Helen's church. Early 13th century in origin, much of the church structure was rebuilt in the later part of the 15th century in the Perpendicular style, the tower having been added around the turn of the 14th into 15th centuries. In the 20th century a narthex (enclosed vestibule) was added to complete today's building. The church is somewhat hidden from Bishopgate by a tall wall but is accessible to visitors albeit a somewhat tricky piece to adequately photograph.