Hampden is the name of a township in North Otago, New Zealand. It is located close to the Pacific coast, some 30 kilometres south of Oamaru, and about 50 minutes north of the Otago Capital City of Dunedin.

It's situated on a broad bay along the North Otago coast, from Aorere Point to Moeraki Point. Beyond the bay is a coastal plain rising within about 10 km to the foothills of the Horse Range and the Kakanui Mountains. The soil of the surrounding plain overlies a limestone formation and is highly productive. (The limestone is responsible for the formation of the concretions known as the Moeraki Boulders.) Sheep raising, poultry farming and grain cropping are the primary rural activities.

The streets of Hampden are laid out in a rectangular grid form based astride the main highway and the railway. They are named after English locations, hence- Lancaster, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Norfolk etc. In 2004, the population was put at 304. The early surveyors named the town after John Hampden. The "town" consists of a service station, a general store, a world famous Fish and Chip shop, a tavern, a Town Hall, a fire station, a motel, a backpacker house, a motor home Parkover Property, a motor repair shop, and a second hand shop open only at weekends. Along the sandy beach front, half a kilometre from the main highway, is a camping ground that appears to be extremely busy over December/January (midsummer). "G E" free market gardening is done in the area, and one of the town's residents manufactures garden sculptures made from old and worn currugated steel.

Its chief claim to fame is the "The Moeraki Boulders", spherical stone concretions found on the beach near the settlement of Moeraki, two kilometres south of Hampden. Near the boulders a substantial restaurant has been established which can cater for the independant traveller or tourists by the coach-load.

But also, Sir Louis Edward Barnett, C.M.G. (1865-1946) retired to Hampden in 1925. His work at the Otago Medical School (which he assisted in establishing) and with the Australasian College of Surgeons led to the recognition of the importance of the disease 'hydatids' (see echinococcus); a canine tapeworm that has a secondary growth stage a a cyst that grows in sheep muscle (and leads to rejected carcasses) and in humans where it can prove fatal. As a result of his work, a control programme in Iceland showed that 100% eradication was possible, and this has now been achieved in New Zealand also. Sir Louis's home in Hampden is protected by the National Historic Places Trust.