The parish of St Paul within the city of Norwich was sited in the north of the city, in that area known as "Norwich-over-the-water" a reference to it being to the north of the River Wensum which runs through the heart of the city. St Paul's parish was one of the poorer areas of the city, frequented by weavers and allied trades until that business faded following the industrial revolution being replaced by Norwich shoemaking industry, a fact amply illustrated if one follows the employment of the majority of fathers in this transcript. The parish had an abundance of sub-standard housing, folk crammed into over-crowded yards having shared facilities and much multi-occupancy. Today St Paul's parish covers largely the area to the east of Magdalen Street, remnants of "terrace-land" but much changed due to "slum clearance" to the mid-20th century estates around the periphery.

Sadly St Paul's church is no more, it was destroyed as a result of enemy action during World War 2. Old photos show a small round-towered church in a tree-lined churchyard. Today the site is partially occupied by a children's park, a rather unhealthy location given it sits next to the dual-carriageway flyover of the city's inner ring road which occupies part of the site of the churchyard.

Sadly, during the incendiary attack which left the church in ruins, the registers were also badly damaged. Three register books of 1600 entries each were meant to cover the period of this transcript; only the third survived intact, the first two, sitting on a shelf with the bases outwards were burnt such that the bottom entries on each page were lost. As a result most of this transcript has had to be compiled from the extant Bishop's Transcripts which are, of course, not of a great quality at times. Thankfully the remnants of the registers have been filmed and these were referenced to correct for omissions and the illegible. Hopefully the transcript is as complete as can be achieved given the circumstances.