The parish is on the right (south) bank of the Wylye, opposite Upton Lovell (near Corton) and Codford St Peter (near Boyton).

Its area extends south-west to the higher ground of Corton Down, Boyton Down and Rowdean Hill.

In the far south is the Great Ridge Wood, which lies mostly within Boyton and covers about a quarter of the parish.

An occupant of the castle was Hugh Giffard and his wife Sibyl, who was the daughter and co-heiress of Walter de Cormeilles.

The parish is situated on the south side of the river Wylye, a branch of the Nadder, and contains the hamlet of Corton.

The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury, of the value of £549, in the patronage of the President and Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford.

The church, which is dedicated to St Mary, is a good specimen of early English architecture, and has been recently restored.

The parish church of the Blessed Mary is a Grade I listed building, notable for two fine windows in its south chapel.

[13][11] The south Giffard chapel has a fine three-light east window, and its oversized west wheel window is called a tour-de-force by Pevsner; Julian Orbach, expanding Pevsner's description, compares its tracery to the 1260 work in Salisbury Cathedral's cloisters, and notes the local connection to Walter Giffard, Archbishop of York.

[14] Richardson brought in furnishings from elsewhere, and had many fragments of stained glass installed including some from Salisbury Cathedral.

[16] A team ministry was established for the area in 1979[17] and today the parish is part of the Upper Wylye Valley grouping, alongside nine others.

[26] A country house was built next to the church in 1618 for Thomas Lambert, a landowner who later sat briefly in Parliament.

[28] Hugh Giffard of Boyton (d.1246) was Constable of the Tower of London and guardian of the young Edward, son of Henry III.

His grandson, Thomas (1585–1638) inherited extensive landholdings in Norfolk, where the family originated, and in Wiltshire; he was briefly MP for Hindon.

[33] Lucy, a daughter of a later Edmund Lambert, married John Benett MP (1773–1852) of Pythouse.

[38] When he married, he moved his establishment to Claremont, a house in Surrey, but he is commemorated locally in the name of the Prince Leopold Inn in the neighbouring village of Upton Lovell.

[41] The Countess (who was separated from her husband) also owned Hanzell Vineyards in California, and on her death in 1991 the properties were inherited by her son Alexander, then aged 17.

[42][43] Local government services are provided by Wiltshire Council, based in Trowbridge, some 15 miles to the north.