Motcombe is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset, England. It lies in the North Dorset administrative district, about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the town of Shaftesbury. It is sited on Kimmeridge clay soil beneath hills at the edge of the Blackmore Vale. The parish is one of the largest in Dorset. In the 2011 census the parish had 611 dwellings, 564 households and a population of 1,474.