Fairford is a market town in Gloucestershire, England. The town lies in the Cotswold hills on the River Coln, 6 miles (10 km) east of Cirencester, 4 miles (6 km) west of Lechlade and 9 miles (14 km) north of Swindon. Nearby are RAF Fairford and the Cotswold Water Park.

First attested as Fagrandforda in 872 CE and as Fareforde in the Domesday book. The components come from Old English from fæger + ford meaning 'clear ford'.

There was a major roundhouse settlement in Horcott (on the south side of the town), and the Welsh Way, which passed through Fairford, was used during this period as a trade route.

Evidence of settlement in Fairford dates back to the 9th century, and it received a royal market grant in the 12th century. An estate in Fairford, which seemingly belonged to Gloucester Abbey, was bequeathed to Burgred of Mercia in the mid 9th century. At the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, Brictric, a large landowner in the West Country, held a manor in Fairford. Matilda of Flanders came to own the land, which became the property of the Crown. In 1100, Robert Fitzhamon, the first Norman feudal baron of Gloucester, is recorded as owning the land, which would be passed down to subsequent barons of Gloucester for the next 200 years, along with the manor of Tewkesbury.

In 1066 there were three mills in the town, one of which was still used in the wool trade in the 13th century. The mill that survives today was built in the 17th century.

Edward I and Henry VIII visited the town in 1276 and 1520 respectively.

Fairford is recorded as having a prison in 1248. Hundred courts were held by the lord of the manor and borough.

By the 15th century the land of Fairford was managed by wool merchants John Twynyho and John Tame, after George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence was forced to give up his lands after being tried for treason.