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 every Thursday. There is a twice-yearly craft fair at Gatcombe, and a summer visit by Gifford's Circus every year. Minchinhampton Country Fayre is held every other year.
The rugby club has three adult teams, minis and juniors from under 6 to under 16, and a large touch-rugby section. Minchinhampton RFC plays in the league Gloucester 2 North. In 2014, the club's players were joined by Gatcombe Park resident Mike Tindall, a 2003 Rugby World Cup winner and ex-England and Gloucester RFC rugby international married to Zara Phillips, the Queen's granddaughter and daughter of the Princess Royal.
Golf
Minchinhampton Golf Club has three courses. The Cherington and Avening courses are located near villages of the same names, south-east of Minchinhampton. The Old Course is on Minchinhampton Common.
Minchinhampton has two places of worship: the Anglican parish church of the Holy Trinity Church, and Minchinhampton Baptist Church. The spire of the parish church was pulled down for safety reasons in 1563, after the nave arches supporting it were found to be failing. The stub was then surmounted by a "coronet" structure. James Bradley, the Astronomer Royal, was buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity in 1762. Minchinhampton BaptistChurch in Tetbury Street dates from 1834. The original Chapel Lane Baptist chapel dating from 1765 is now a private house.
The Common
Minchinhampton Common is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It offers an area of for walkers and golfers. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1913, but only managed by it since 2000. The Common is also used as summer grazing land for cows. 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.
Aston Down
Minchinhampton is close to the former Royal Air Force airfield, Aston Down, formerly a major employer, but now closed and used only for gliding. In 2005, after a Freedom of Information request, the local newspaper revealed that Aston Down is contaminated with arsenic, hydrocarbons and radium. Since the site lies above a vulnerable aquifer, local residents have formed an Aston Down Action Group aimed at persuading local and central government agencies to implement more stringent safety regulations.
Notable residents
In birth order:
James Bradley, astronomer and university professor, was buried here.
Mary Deverell, religious writer and poet, was born and buried here.
Flora Annie Steel, writer, died in Minchinhampton.
Jenny Joseph, poet, lived in the town.
Keith Allen, actor, lives in the parish.
Robert Addie, actor – his ashes are interred in Holy Trinity churchyard.
