The parish of Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalene lies in West Norfolk, adjacent to the River Great Ouse and south of the port of King's Lynn. St Mary Magdalene is the southernmost of the four Wiggenhall parishes, deep in the west Norfolk Fens and barely a metre above sea level. The village is built around a crossroads just west of one of only four crossings of the Great Ouse between King's Lynn and Downham Market. The area today is still intensely agricultural with the deep peat on the Fen growing much of the salad produce for Britain. The area is characterised by wide open skies and level fields all protected by the drainage channels that carry water out to the Wash.

St Mary Magdalene church is large and typically for West Norfolk is built with much use of the honey-coloured Carrstone from the ridges to the east. The tower is the earliest part of the church - probably 13th century; the rest is of the usual Norfolk Perpendicular period and dates from the 15th century. The church sits at the heart of the village just west of the crossing of the Great Ouse and set back from the main street in its churchyard. It is an imposing edifice in the flat lands of the Fens.