Caunton is a village and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire on the A616, six miles (9.7 km) north-west of Newark-on-Trent, in the NG23 postcode.

[2] The village is notable for its association with Samuel Hole, who is buried in the churchyard of St. Andrew's Church.

In 1950 the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company would set up its Kirklington Hall Research Station, nearby to the west, to investigate geophysical exploration.

Caunton was used as a filming location for the majority of the second-series episodes of the popular British comedy drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, about a group of seven British migrant construction workers, with Beesthorpe Hall being used as Thornely Manor which was being renovated as part of the storyline.

HMS Caunton, named after the village, was a Ton-class minesweeper in service from 18 December 1952 to 1970.