There was a major roundhouse settlement in Horcott (on the south side of the town),[2] and the Welsh Way, which passed through Fairford, was used during this period as a trade route.

[3] An estate in Fairford, which seemingly belonging to Gloucester Abbey, was bequeathed to Burgred of Mercia in the mid 9th century.

[3] At the time of the Norman conquest, Brictric, a large landowner in the West Country, held a manor in Fairford.

[5] Fairford Park, to the north of the town, was made part of the manor house grounds, built by Andrew Barker in the 1660s.

The first recording of an inn had been in 1419 and this grew over the centuries owing to Fairford's location as a connecting town between larger metropolitan areas.

Stagecoach routes often called at Fairford before travelling on to Gloucester, Cirencester, Bristol, Oxford and London.

[8] Farming machinery which was being manufactured in the town was destroyed by protestors who then joined forces with those from the surrounding villages of Quenington, Hatherop, Coln and Southrop.

[11] A coach load of people intending to protest was stopped in Lechlade under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and searched by police and sent back to London.

[12][13] Ninety of the detained demonstrators formed Fairford Coach Action and sought legal recourse against Gloucestershire constabulary.

[14] The group stated that:"On 22 March 2003, the police used surprisingly extreme tactics to prevent more than 120 activists from reaching [the] legally sanctioned anti-war demonstration in Fairford, (Gloucestershire, UK).

The main thing that they had in common was the desire to travel from London by coach and the intention of joining the legal protest in Fairford.

Using section 60 powers (of the Public Order and Criminal Justice Act 1994) police searched the coaches for weapons for one and a half hours.

Rebuilt in the early 1490s by the wool merchant John Tame (d.1500), the church is an example of late Perpendicular Gothic architecture that is characterised by slim stone window mullions and light but strong buttresses.

[19] St. Mary's is of national historical and architectural importance because it houses the most complete set of mediaeval stained glass windows in the country, attributed to Barnard Flower.

In 1642, during the Civil War, they narrowly avoided destruction[20] when the Roundhead army was marching on the nearby town of Cirencester.

There is also a stone grotesque to commemorate a young boy who climbed up the walls of the church and jumped, falling to his death.

The first Mass was celebrated in 1845, five years before the Restoration of the Hierarchy in England and before the creation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton.

The stained glass window behind the altar depicts St. Thomas of Canterbury in the centre panel, showing the date 1845.

On Cotswold District Council Fairford North Ward is represented by Liberal Democrat Andrew Doherty and Lechlade, Kempsford and Fairford South Ward is as of May 2023 represented by Liberal Democrats Councillors Clare Muir and Helene Mansilla.

[3] There have been reports that part of the old track could be cleared of accumulated mountains of detritus and overgrown trees to be re-opened as a cycle path.

[citation needed] The Fairford, Faringdon, Filkins and Burford Championship and Country Show held every year since 1948.

[40] Fairford also has a youth football club, based at Horcott Road which caters for children between the ages of 5 and 15 years old.

The Secret Diary of Sarah Thomas, 1860 – 1865, is a published journal by a Victorian diarist living in Fairford.