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Minchinhampton is a Cotswolds market town and a civil parish in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire, South West England. The town is located on a hilltop, 4 miles (6.4 km) south-east of Stroud. The common offers wide views over the Severn Estuary into Wales and further into the Cotswolds. It is an ancient town which was recorded in the Domesday Book.

The place-name 'Minchinhampton' is first attested as Hantone in the Domesday Book of 1086. It appears as Minchenhamtone in the Assize Rolls of 1221. The name was originally the Old English Heatun, meaning "high town or settlement". The additional element is the Old English mynecen, meaning a nun, which is related to the modern word "monk". Minchinhampton at one time belonged to the nunnery in Caen in Normandy, France. Thus the name means "the nuns' high town or settlement". On a map of 1825 (published 1828) the town is labelled "Minching-Hampton".

The main square has a war memorial, and a 17th-century Market House, given to the town in 1919 by the Lord of the Manor, Lt Col. H. G. Ricardo, and restored in 1944.

A market is held on the first Saturday of each month. There is a twice-yearly craft fair at Gatcombe and an annual summer visit by Gifford's Circus. Minchinhampton Country Fayre is held every other year in the High Street.

Minchinhampton Common is a 580-acre (230 ha) common used by walkers and golfers, and is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1913, but only managed by it since 2000. It has long, parallel ditches and mounds known as the Bulwarks, which formed part of a large Iron Age fort. There are wide views from the Common, west over the Severn estuary into Wales, and east to the Golden Valley and further into the Cotswolds.

The limestone Longstone of Minchinhampton is supposedly the burial site of a Danish leader. As a standing stone it more probably dates back to the Bronze Age.

The Common is also well known in the local area for its cows and wild horses, which use the land to graze from May to October. These animals are also free to roam the town itself, often resulting in traffic and tourists.