FONTMELL, a village, a parish, and a sub-district in Shaftesbury district, Dorset. The village stands 4 miles S of Shaftesbury, and 4 N by E of Shillingstone r. station; and has a post office under Salisbury. The parish includes also the tythings of Bedcester and Hartgrove; and bears the name of Fontmell Magna. Acres, 2, 853. Real property, with Compton Abbas, £4, 796. Rated property of F. alone, £3, 338. Pop., 875. Houses, 189. The property is divided among a few. The living is a rectory and a vicarage, united with the p. curacy of West Orchard, in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, £440. Patron, George Carr Glyn, Esq. The church was built in 1864, on the site of a previous edifice; is in the later English style, after designs by Mr. Evans; and is richly ornamented. There is a Wesleyan chapel. -The sub-district contains nine parishes. Acres, 14, 944. Pop., 3, 358. Houses, 745.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))