It is 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Towcester, north of Syresham and north-west of Silverstone and forms part of West Northamptonshire.

Wappenham has some of the earliest architectural works by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

[4][a]The red-brick vicarage, east of the church, built in 1833 as a home for his father Reverend Thomas Scott who was vicar of Wappenham at the time, was Gilbert Scott's first work, built while he was still an assistant architect.

Pevsner describes it as "...only remarkable for being Sir George Gilbert Scott's first building".

[4] Wappenham had its own railway station until 1951, on the former Towcester/Banbury line between Helmdon and Greens Norton Junction.