Not too long afterwards Clinton was appointed Sheriff of Warwickshire (c. 1121), to act as counterweight to the Earl of Warwick, Roger de Beaumont, whom Henry I did not trust.
[4] Clinton further secured his position by starting work on the great castle of Kenilworth, only five miles from the Beaumonts' central fortress at Warwick.
[5] Clinton received other grants of land from Henry I, and he used his position of political influence to enrich himself in other ways;[6] his sum total of wealth rose to become just below the level of the greatest magnates of the kingdom.
[8] Around Easter 1130 Clinton was accused of treason, but was acquitted by a tribunal including King David I of Scotland, who was sitting in his capacity as Earl of Huntingdon.
[12] His son and successor, also named Geoffrey, became engaged in a violent quarrel with the Earl of Warwick early in the reign of King Stephen of England.