The parish of Thorpe Market lies in northeastern Norfolk not too far from its North Sea coastline. Thorpe Market sits on the A149 road roughly midway between the coastal resort of Cromer and the market town of North Walsham, it is about 5 miles south of the former and the same distance northwest of the latter. Thorpe Market consists simply of a short stretch of properties lying along the A149 with scattered farms and cottages across the wider parish. Whilst Thorpe Market would have been a typical arable farming parish, in earlier times the parish held large tracts of woodland, indeed much of the area between the village and church was at one time covered in Thorpe Wood which stretched between Thorpe Road and Church Road. The western limb of the parish was constrained by the extensive estate of Gunton Hall which, too, had wooded fringes and early gazetteers estimated 20% of the parish acreage as set to woodland. Today much of that land has been cleared to arable fields.

St Margaret's church sits away from its village, a half mile to the south and sitting on the northern side of Church Road which leads from the A149 to Gunton railway station. The church is highly unusual and relatively modern in design. The original parish church had fallen in a parlous state by the end of the 18th century and today's building was commissioned by the then Lord Suffield to replace it. The church was completed in 1796 and is reckoned to be one of the earliest examples of Gothic Revival in the county. The simplistic design is a plain oblong with turrets at each corner from knapped flint each bearing a small spirelet. The church's design certainly didn't please everyone, Walter Rye writing in 1883 described it as "certainly the ugliest place of worship I have ever entered: description of it would be painful". Even Pevsner described the interior as "gimmick". Today passions have ameliorated somewhat as the church has mellowed into its environment. Church Road has a small corner of the field opposite the churchyard set aside for parking allowing an extended visit to form one's own opinion. The churchyard is open & uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.