The parish of Cringleford lies some 3 miles southwest of the centre of Norwich, immediately across the River Yare from the city's growing spread. Once a discrete small village itself, Cringleford has in more recent times become an indisputable suburb of the city too with many modern developments expanding what was originally little more than a small group of properties gathered around the church. The iconic humped bridge separating Cringleford from neighbouring Eaton once bore all of the heavy traffic of the A11 (Norwich's main route to London), thankfully today a dual-carriageway takes traffic to the north of the village sparing a notorious bottleneck. Gazetteers of the Victorian period describe Cringleford as a largely arable and rural community, today it is pure suburbia.

St Peter's church stands on the western side of the once main road through the village, the rumble of heavy traffic now only a feature of morning & evening rush-hour. The nave and chancel are remarkably early for a Norfolk church, Pevsner dates both to the 11th century Norman Romanesque period, a period little represented in the county. The unbuttressed western tower shows 14th Century Decorated style windows whilst the chancel arch was replaced and a northern porch were added in the Perpendicular period of the 15th century. The church received the usual Victorian restoration, in this case in the late 1890s, to result in today's building. Newmarket Road past the church is still a busy route but street parking is available a few hundred yards away in Colney Lane enabling a relaxed visit. There are entrances at both eastern and northwestern ends of the churchyard which is relatively free of photographic obstacles.