For the local government, the parish falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.

In 1602 it was already a ruin, but in 1885 the Kerslake family decided to turn it into a mausoleum and employed the architect Frederick Preedy to restore the church.

The round tower is Norman, but the origins may have been Anglo-Saxon as indicated by the flint quoins at the west end of the nave.

The Kerslakes originate from the southwest of England where the family-owned shipyards building ships for the Royal Navy.

Due to the considerable amount of work undertaken for the Admiralty during the 18th century, the family became wealthy and also a government creditor.