Hillington parish sits in west Norfolk, one of a string of parishes that have their feet in the low ground bordering the Wash but with the heads on the ridge which carries the Peddar's Way footpath. These parishes are all elongated on an east-west axis to gain a little portion of the fertile land as well as their part of the extensive sheep ranges on higher ground.

St Mary's Church is a typical Norfolk Perpendicular church built largely in the 15th century - a time of Norfolk's greatest wealth. There was extensive alteration during the 19th century largely at the behest of the Ffolkes family. Their hall and its activities dominated the local landscape and no doubt the employment of the local menfolk too.