The parish of Thurgarton lies in northern Norfolk roughly midway between the market town of Aylsham (8 miles south) and the seaside resort of Cromer (a similar distance north) and just over 2 miles west of the A140 road which joins them. There is very little to modern day Thurgarton, a simple crossroads settlement which is little more than a northern extension of Aldborough. The parish was ever small, as are many in this area of the county, covering less than 1,000 acres. Like most Norfolk parishes Thurgarton was, and still is, an arable farming parish, the rich loamy soils contributing to easy working and high yields it remains an area dominated by cereals, beet and oilseed. Unlike much of central Norfolk there are a few contours hereabouts as land rises towards the glacial ridge to the north and is cut by the headwaters of the Scarrow Beck giving slightly more varied topography than a lot of the county.

All Saints' church sits almost 3/4 mile north of the main concentration of properties in the parish, besides a rural crossroads and close to Thurgarton Hall. A rather sad sight nowadays as the western tower which once graced the building fell in 1882, the tiny vestry which replaces it is scant compensation, it was put up in 1924. A pair of lancet windows in the nave from the 13th century Early English Gothic period are all that remain from the early church but a rebuild clearly took place in the early 14th century as most of the fabric shows the Decorated style of that period. From the lack of later detail the church was unmolested by the Victorians and but for the tragedy of the tower would represent a complete single-phase Decorated style build. The church sits at a remote crossroads with just a single house close by and fine views across arable fields opposite. The usual flint & brick wall surrounds with a set of wooden gates on Bessingham Road for entry, sadly many trees cluster around that western end, masking the fate of the tower but limiting the photographic angles.