Newport Pagnell is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England.[2] The Office for National Statistics records Newport Pagnell as part of the Milton Keynes urban area. It is separated from the rest of the urban area by the M1 motorway, on which Newport Pagnell Services (the second service station to be opened in the UK) is located.

The town was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Neuport, Old English for 'New Market Town', but by that time, the old Anglo-Saxon town was dominated by the Norman invaders. The suffix 'Pagnell' came later when the manor passed into the hands of the Pagnell (Paynel) family. It was the principal town of the "Three Hundreds of Newport", a district that had almost the same boundary as the modern Borough.

At one time, Newport Pagnell was one of the largest towns in the County of Buckinghamshire (the assizes of the County were occasionally held there). Today, despite its own substantial expansion, it has been completely dwarfed by the growth of Milton Keynes. There were also at one time two hospitals in Newport Pagnell, and six fairs were held for the townsfolk throughout the year.

The 1841 census gave the population as 3,569.

Newport Pagnell became the headquarters of Newport Pagnell Rural District under the Local Government Act 1894. In 1897, Newport Pagnell became the sole civil parish comprising the newly created Newport Pagnell Urban District.

The Grade I listed Tickford Bridge, over the River Ouzel (or Lovat), was built in 1810. It is one of just a few cast iron bridges in Britain that still carry modern road traffic. Near the footbridge at the side, there is a plaque placed by Newport Pagnell Historical Society that gives details of its history and construction. The Ouzel joins the Great Ouse nearby, and a large set of sluice gates, used to control downstream flooding, is located near the bridge.

Between 1817 and 1864, the town was linked to the Grand Junction Canal at Great Linford via the Newport Pagnell Canal.[8] In 1862, the canal owners sold the route to the London and North Western Railway. For a hundred years (1867 to 1967), Newport Pagnell was served by Newport Pagnell railway station, the terminus on the Wolverton to Newport Pagnell branch line.

From 1954 until 2007, the town was the home to the exclusive sports car manufacturer Aston Martin. The Newport Pagnell factory was considered outdated and a new production facility was built near Gaydon in Warwickshire. There is still a service facility in Newport Pagnell, but the factory on the north side of Tickford St has since been demolished apart from the engine shop, board room and offices that are listed buildings. The land behind these has been purchased by Tesco and the supermarket giant had planned to build an outlet on the site, preserving the original remaining buildings for use by the townspeople: as of May 2019, this plan remains on the drawing board. In 2012, Aston Martin completely modernised the service facility and the site also houses a bespoke sales department.

Notable industries in the town include the only remaining vellum manufacturer in the United Kingdom, William Cowley, located at Parchment Works, 97 Caldecote Street.

Over the past 50 years, Newport Pagnell has attracted an increasing amount of investment and of economic growth, due to its fortunes being intertwined with the growth of Milton Keynes. This has led a number of new housing developments in the area.

The modern civil parish of Newport Pagnell stops at the M1, but the ecclesiastical parish extends to include Broughton and Caldecote. The parish church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul.