The village is located on a fairly steep hill, which at its highest point elevates to 400 feet (120 m) above sea level.

[3][4] Around 1.2 miles (1.9 km) north-east of Clifton is Dow Bridge, where the A5 road (Watling Street) crosses the River Avon, and the counties of Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire meet, forming a tripoint.

[4] During the time of Edward the Confessor Clifton was in the hands of Alwyn, the Sheriff of Warwick who gave his land at Clifton to Coventry Priory; monks from which were likely responsible for building a church here dedicated to St. Mary, which at the time of the Domesday Book was the mother church to the then smaller settlement of Rugby.

To the south-east of the village and within the parish was the former Rugby Radio Station,[7] which operated between 1926 and 2007, and is now a large housing development called Houlton.

There was formerly a second public house, the Red Lion, which was converted to cottages and the Townsend Memorial Hall in the late 19th century.

In Houlton The Barn is a community centre/village hall which holds communal classes and clubs and can be hired for parties or events.