Minchinhampton

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Map sources for Minchinhampton at grid reference SO871008

Minchinhampton is located on a hill top 4 miles south-south-east of Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, in the Cotswolds. The town is an ancient market town dating back to pre-1400. The main square has an early Market House.

Nearby is Minchinhampton Common, a recreation area for walkers and golfers. The Common is also used as grazing land for the cows of local farmers in the summer. On the Common are long parallel ditches and mounds which formed part of a large Iron Age fort. There are good views from the Common west over the Severn estuary into Wales, and east to the Golden Valley and further into the Cotswolds.

The main street in Minchinhampton has a few small shops and cafes, a Post Office and the Crown Inn.

The spire of the parish church of the Holy Trinity was pulled down for safety reasons in 1863 and now the stub has been completed with a "coronet" structure.

A market is held under the Market House.

Minchinhampton is close to Gatcombe Estate, the home of the Princess Royal, which hosts the Gatcombe Horse Trials in late summer each year. The twice-yearly craft fair at Gatcombe and summer visit of Gifford's Circus also add to Minchinhampton's appeal.

Minchinhampton is also close to the former Ministry of Defence airfield, Aston Down, now owned by development firm Leda Properties. In 2005 a Freedom of Information request by Alli Pyrah, a reporter on the local paper the Stroud News & Journal, revealed that Aston Down is contaminated with arsenic, hydrocarbons and radium. This is problematic as the site is located above a vulnerable aquifer. Local residents have formed a pressure group, the Aston Down Action Group, in an effort to persuade local government and central government agencies to implement more stringent safety regulations.