It is bounded, on the North, by the River Great Ouse, by which this parish is separated from Lavendon and Cold Brayfield; on the East, by Newton-Blossomville; on the South, by Petsoe and Emberton; and on the West, by the latter and by Olney.^[2]

The village name comes in two parts: the former name 'Clifton' is Anglo Saxon in origin and means 'Cliff farm', referring to the village's position on a cliff on a bank of the River Ouse. The latter name 'Reynes' refers to the ancient lords of the manor of the village, whose family name this was.^[3] In the Domesday Book on 1086 Clifton Reynes was recorded as Cliftone.

The parish church dedicated to St Mary is (unusually for a Buckinghamshire church) completely castellated: even the gables are embattled. The tower is thought to be Norman;^[3] however, the top is later probably 14th century.^[3] The majority of the building is of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries and the nave is unusually tall. Features of interest include the 14th-century font and the medieval monuments of the Reynes family. These include two pairs of wooden effigies; one pair is of Ralph and Amabel de Reynes (ca. 1320–30) and the other is unidentified and slightly earlier.^[4]

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