[1] The main A12 road cuts through the eastern portion of the parish close to the North Sea coast.

Residential development at Bloodmoor Hill on the edge of Carlton Colville has led to a rapid growth in the parish population since the 1980s when it stood at 456.

[2] The traditional area of the village is centred around the parish church and extends in a linear style.

[3] It includes an area of housing at Black Street in the south of the parish and development to the north around the site of the former Gisleham Middle School.

[b] The church has a late Saxon or early Norman round base topped with a 15th-century octagonal brick crown.