As his political power increased, so did his ambitions for his estate and by 1720 he had determined to replace the Elizabethan house with a new Palladian mansion.

[8] This was also subjected to Walpolean improvement, with a new tower being constructed at the western end and most of the windows, and much of the interior being replaced.

[9] The West Tower was erected in memory of Walpole's grandfather,[10] but, in addition to filial piety, the motivation was the re-creation of the church as a landscape feature on the transformed estate.

[12] The churchyard contains a memorial to one British and five Australian crew members of an Avro Lancaster bomber who were killed when their plane crashed at Houghton following a raid on the Ruhr Valley in October 1944.

[9] The West Tower is entirely his work, and Bill Wilson, in his 2002 revised Norfolk 2: North-West and South edition of the Pevsner Buildings of England, suggests that the clerestory, the "classical" cornice, and much else is likely of his time.