The Luddites
The area surrounding Clifton is rich in local history. In the early 19th century, the Luddites were a group of textile workers who set about destroying the machinery that threatened their jobs. They met secretly to discuss tactics in local inns.

One of the inns they used for this purpose was the Black Horse Inn at Clifton. Several of the vigilante group sustained fatal injuries and were secretly buried in the churchyard at nearby Hartshead.

Patrick Bronte
It is believed that the Vicar of Hartshead at the time, Patrick Bronte discovered the newly dug Luddite graves, and because he sympathised with the Luddite cause chose to say nothing. Patrick Bronte was father of Charlotte, Emily and Anne, the Bronte sisters.

Robin Hood
Robin Hood reputedly spent his last days in a local priory, and feeling his end was near decided to fire an arrow from his bow to determine his burial place. The site is marked with a headstone, but the distance from the Priory to the grave does not add any credibility to this story, although no doubt it will continue to be told.

Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe traveled extensively in the local area prior to writing a traveler's guide “A Tour of Great Britain”. In 1727 he described the area where the Black Horse Inn is now situated.

Local Coal Mining
In 1851 there were a total of eleven pits operating in Clifton and Hartshead, the Hartshead Moor pit being situated just beyond the boundary of the North Course. In 1930, miners in this pit were trapped when a fault developed in the winding engine which was used to bring up the cage to the surface. Rather than waiting for the repair they set off crawling underground and found their way into and out of the workings of three other pits before being brought safely to the surface at the Three Nuns Pit over two miles away.