Coordinates: 51°55′49″N 2°24′17″W / 51.9302°N 2.4048°W / 51.9302; -2.4048

Newent (originally called "Noent") is a small market town about 8 miles north west of Gloucester City, on the northern edge of the Forest of Dean, and lying within the Forest of Dean Local Authority District. Its population at the 2001 census was 5,073. The town includes a half-timbered market house, other houses of historical nature, and the site of the former small Victorian museum, The Shambles, containing a replica of a 19th century street has been transformed and now real local traders occupy the once replica shops. There has been a settlement here since at least Roman times and the town first appeared in the Domesday Book.

Newent's church, St Mary's, dates from the 13th century but the site has been used since the Anglo-Saxon period. St Mary's Church has stained glass windows from the famous company of Clayton and Bell.

Newent is home to the Devonia, a large house dating back to the Georgian period.

Newent was served by the Hereford & Gloucester Canal, which opened between Gloucester and Ledbury in 1798. The canal closed on 30 June 1881 and the section between Ledbury and Gloucester converted into a railway line. This line, which was a branch of the Great Western Railway, opened on 27 July 1885. The original course of the canal between Dymock and Newent was by-passed as it was decided not to take the line through the 2,192 yard Oxenhall Tunnel. Newent had a station on this line. The line closed in 1959, but the canal (including the tunnel), is now being restored. Today the nearest station is Ledbury on the Cotswold Line.

Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 Newent, Gloucestershire – 3 February 1967 in London) was a pioneering English record producer and songwriter.

His most famous work was The Tornados' hit "Telstar" in 1962, which became the first record by a British group to hit #1 in the US Hot 100. It also spent five weeks atop the UK singles chart, with Meek receiving an Ivor Novello Award for this production as the "Best-Selling A-Side" of 1962.

Meek's other notable hit productions include "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O" and "Cumberland Gap" by Lonnie Donegan (as engineer), "Johnny Remember Me" by John Leyton, "Just Like Eddie" by Heinz, "Angela Jones" by Michael Cox, "Have I the Right?" by The Honeycombs, and "Tribute to Buddy Holly" by Mike Berry. Meek's concept album I Hear a New World is regarded as a watershed in modern music for its innovative use of electronic sounds.

Joe Meek was also producing music for films, most notably Live It Up! (US title Sing and Swing), a 1963 pop music film starring Heinz Burt, David Hemmings and Steve Marriott, also featuring Gene Vincent, Jenny Moss, The Outlaws, Kim Roberts, Kenny Ball, Patsy Ann Noble and others. Meek wrote most of the songs and incidental music, much of which was recorded by The Saints and produced by Meek.