Fontmell Magna
| Fontmell Magna | |
|---|---|
 Fontmell Magna village centre |
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 Fontmell Magna
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| Fontmell Magna shown within Dorset | |
| Population | 734 |
| OS grid reference | ST866169 |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SHAFTESBURY |
| Postcode district | SP7 |
| Dialling code | 01747 |
| Police | Dorset |
| Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | |
Fontmell Magna is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England. It is situated in the Blackmore Vale, close to the chalk hills of Cranborne Chase, on the A350 road 5 miles (8 km) south of Shaftesbury and 8 miles (13 km) north of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 734.
The name Fontmell derives from a Celtic river-name meaning 'spring by the bare hill', and Magna—meaning great—distinguishes this settlement from Fontmell Parva (parva meaning small), which is a few miles southwest in Child Okeford parish. In 877 Fontmell Magna was recorded as Funtemel, in 1086 in the Domesday Book it was Fontemale, and in 1391 it was Magnam Funtemell.
Evidence of early human presence occurs in the east and northeast of the parish in the form of earthworks on the chalk hills: these consist of three cross-dykes, a barrow and a mound that is also possibly a barrow.
In 932, King Æthelstan granted an estate at Fontmell to the nuns of Shaftesbury Abbey under the condition that they would sing 50 psalms after Prime and offer masses at Terce, for the king's intention.
Of settlements existing within the parish today, the earliest is the main village, which originated before the Norman Conquest. The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded that Fontemale was in Sixpenny Hundred; it had 3 mills, 68 households, and the estate's lord and tenant-in-chief was Shaftesbury Abbey. A land survey made by the abbey in about 1130–35 shows that the Fontmell Magna estate had 65 tenants, of whom 41 were villeins, each holding between half and one yardland, and the rest were cottagers, each with about four acres. The number of mills had increased to four. A second survey made in about 1170–80 shows the population had increased to 80 tenants, of whom 55 were villeins.
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Wikipedia