The parish of Thwaite St Mary lies in southeastern Norfolk not too far from its border with neighbouring Suffolk and sitting just over 3 miles north of the Suffolk market town of Bungay. Thwaite St Mary sits in a broad area devoid of major roads but a little over 2 miles east of the B1332 road which connects Bungay through to the city of Norwich. Thwaite St Mary carries a qualifier to distinguish it from the other Thwaite in Norfolk, namely that in northern Norfolk sitting by Alby and close to Aylsham. Thwaite St Mary was one of Norfolk's smallest rural parishes, a mere 500 acres which came with a small population too. Most inhabitants would have been engaged in arable agriculture as the parish sits in a relatively level and fertile plateau above the nearby valley of the River Waveney which forms the border with Suffolk. Even today Thwaite St Mary is a small place, little more than a crossroads of lanes with a few scattered farms and cottages and little more than the 100 or so parishioners who would have supported the parish in the days of this transcript.

St Mary's church sits at the northern end of what passes for the centre of Thwaite St Mary on the eastern side of the lane leading towards Mundham. The church's principal asset s the richly decorated Norman south doorway, a piece that Pevsner tentatively gives the date of c1140 and decorated with scallop shells, perhaps a symbol of St James. Whilst the church undoubtedly dates back as far as that Norman Romanesque period it was clearly substantially rebuilt during that great church-building era of the Perpendicular, the unbuttressed western tower and the nave both show this style albeit the nave is certainly older and remodelled. Heading to the eastern end, the chancel has a clearer and documented date having been rebuilt firstly in 1738 and then altered substantially in the Victorian restoration of 1861. The neat thatched roof needs, of course, regular renewal and images from 2011 show it being renewed most recently, The lane which passes, Bungay Road, is quite narrow but a small pull-in at the northern end of the site enables a car to get off road. The churchyard is hedged to the road with wooden gates at the southern corner to gain entry, the churchyard is rather tightly enclosing the church to the east which does somewhat remove the favoured southeastern aspect for the photographer.