UK parliament by the Conservative Simon Hoare. Geography The parish covers and extends from the dip slope of Cranborne Chase in the east, to the area around the settlement of Hartgrove in the Blackmore Vale in the west. From west to east the underlying geology comprises Kimmeridge clay around Hartgrove, a ridge of Lower Greensand east of the Twyford Brook, Gault and Upper Greensand from the valley of the Fontmell Brook eastwards, and then the high chalk escarpment of Cranborne Chase. The chalk hill just outside the village to the east, Fontmell Down, is a nature reserve. Climate The Met Office has a climate station at Fontmell Magna. Between 1981 and 2010 it recorded an average of of rain per annum, and average temperatures between in January, and in July. Demography In the 2011 census Fontmell Magna civil parish had 334 dwellings, 319 households and a population of 734. The population of the parish in the censuses between 1921 and 2011 is shown in the table below: Notable buildings There are 45 structures within Fontmell Magna civil parish that have been listed by Historic England for their architectural or historical interest. There are no structures listed as Grade I – the designation of highest significance – but the parish church is designated as Grade II*. All the other listings are Grade II. In 1906 Sir Frederick Treves described the church as "one of the handsomest in Dorsetshire". Notable residents Lieutenant Philip Salkeld V.C., who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his role in blowing open the Kashmir Gate in Delhi, India, in 1857, was born and grew up in Fontmell Magna, where his father was the rector. In 1930, art collector Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill bought the Springhead estate near Fontmell Magna. In 1934, writer and rural revivalist Rolf Gardiner and his wife Marabel bought a cottage on the estate, which they farmed. Gardiner was active in Dorset society, becoming a member of Dorset County Council between 1937–1946, High Sheriff of Dorset 1967–68, President of the Dorset Federation of Young Farmers Clubs 1944–46, a Chairman and then President of the Dorset branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England between 1957-1972 as well as other rural and landscape committees and working parties. The Gardiners' son, orchestral conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner CBE FKC, was born in Fontmell Magna in 1943. The village was also home to cinematographer Oswald Morris