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.