Clifton and Compton touches the parishes of Ashbourne, Edlaston and Wyaston, Mayfield, Offcote and Underwood, Osmaston, Okeover and Snelston.

[4] Clifton: This was reported in Domesday as Cliptune and Cliftune, before a recognisable form appearing in public records from the 13th century, meaning 'farm on a hill-slope'.

It is hemmed in by the now defunct railway route to Ashbourne as well as Henmore brook to the west, and higher ground to the south.

Cliftoncross is a small cluster of residences attached to the village at its northern perimeter surrounding Doles Lane.

Hangingbridge is named after the bridge which crosses the River Dove nearby, usually as the words joined as one to distinguish it from the structure.

It is a semi-rural village with a number of built-up areas in close proximity, and comprises a nucleus of residential buildings centred around Watery Lane with surrounding farms.

The name Compton (post Domesday it was known as Campdene) may go back to before the Norman Conquest in 1066, although it was only first recorded in the middle 13th century.

However, it was readded administratively to Ashbourne in 1894, originally being in a combined township of the town until 1846 before Clifton and Compton became a separate parish.

By the 1880s much of Clifton and Sturston was owned by the Smith family who made their wealth from cheese processing, with factories in the vicinity.

In 1899 according to White's Directory, John Harrison of Snelston Hall, was lord of the manor, the Smith family and G. H. Errington from Southampton being recorded as principal landowners.

[8] Although Ashbourne and Dove Valley Golf Club was established in 1886, it was sited elsewhere at a number of locations until 1909 when it moved to Clifton and a 9-hole course was built on land, the majority of which originally formed part of Hollies Farm.

[10] This is a small hamlet originally consisting of a few cottages on the road from Ashbourne to Clifton, only a few hundred yards from the core village.

The south edge of this crossroad from Clifton Cross onwards has been closed since the early 1800s, though it was kept open for a number of years longer as a bridle track.

Road junctions were then the usual place for siting gallows so that the corpses of those hung would be seen by all passers-by to deter others from being involved in crime.

[14] Additionally, James Rolleston (or Rolston), a member of a wealthy family and an MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme[17] that gave to the building of Mayfield church in the 1300s and then added the tower in 1515, mentioned the Hanging Bridge in his will.

It is possible that a thousand years ago Saxons were already referring to the crossing as ‘Hangan Bridge’, with it extending to the modern form at some later date.

[4] This is a medieval football game played annually on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday in the town of Ashbourne in Derbyshire, England.

There is a number of tumulus (historic burial mounds) throughout the wider region, with two sites in the south east of the parish known as the Tinker's Inn bowl barrows, both recorded as scheduled monuments.