It is at Newark that the River Trent turns northwards. Running parallel to the river are the Great North Road (now the A1) and the East Coast Mainline railway. The easily missed village of Norwell lies seven miles north of Newark and one and a half miles west of the A1. In 1853 it was described by White in his Directory as ‘a large village upon a declivity'. Fortunately for Norwell's inhabitants, both past and present, the ground on which the village stands is sufficiently high to raise it above the surrounding water-meadows which can still flood.

The parish of Norwell consists of the village of Norwell, the hamlet of Norwell Woodhouse and the now deserted hamlet of Willoughby. The population now is about 450, much as it was in 1250 and 1700. It reached a peak of about 800 in the middle of the nineteenth century when it was a flourishing, almost selfsufficient community, supported by its farms and trades.