The parish of Stalham lies in northeastern Norfolk about 6 miles southeast of the market town of North Walsham. Stalham lies on the busy A149 road which links Cromer, through North Walsham, to Great Yarmouth. Stalham lies about 3 miles inland of Norfolk's North Sea coast. Stalham is a substantial village, greatly expanded in modern times but large even at the time of this transcript. Stalham's prosperity and growth came as a major transshipment point for agricultural produce onto the waterway network of Norfolk's Broads. Just to the west of the village lies the valley of the River Ant, one of Broadland's major thoroughfares where grain would have been loaded onto the local wherries for shipment to Great Yarmouth and thence to the major UK and overseas markets. Stalham, today, is still very much a regional hub with shops, pubs and other businesses dominating a thriving High Street. Now that the A149 is bypassing to the west the village has a more peaceful air but is still a popular place to live with the amenities of Broadland and its staithes nearby.

St Mary's church sits alongside the former main crossroads of Stalham where the A149 formerly ran through the centre. St Mary's is described by Pevsner as having had "plenty of restorations", despite these changes some of the dating history is available. The earliest parts of the church, nave and south aisle, are in the Decorated style and hence on the early side for a Norfolk church, the bulk of the remainder is in the widespread Perpendicular style of the 15th century, the tower has documentary evidence showing donations up to 1523 but was clearly left unfinished (and in clear contrast to other nearby Perpendicular splendours). The graveyard fills all of the land between the High Street and Brumstead Road with paved walkways making useful routes between the two it makes the site part of the village life as well as its afterlife.