Flimwell is a village in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Ticehurst Ticehurst is both a village and a large civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The parish lies in the upper reaches of both the Bewl stream before it enters Bewl Water and in the upper reaches of the River Rother flowi ...

, in the Rother district of

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is located close to the border with

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

at the junction of the

A21 road This is a list of road designation, roads designated A21. Roads are sorted in the countries' alphabetical order. * A21 road (Australia), a road in South Australia * A21 (Toowoomba, QLD) * A21 motorway (Austria), a road connecting Altlengbach and t ...

with the A268 and the B2087. The village is situated in an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

near Bewl Water and

Bedgebury Pinetum Bedgebury National Pinetum at Bedgebury, Kent, in the United Kingdom, is a recreational and conservational arboretum managed by Forestry England that was established as the National Conifer Collection in 1925 and is now recognised as the most c ...

, and neighbouring villages include

, Hurst Green and

Hawkhurst Hawkhurst is village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The village is located close to the border with East Sussex, around south-east of Royal Tunbridge Wells and within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Na ...

. The origin of the place-name is from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

words ''fliema'' and ''wella'' meaning the spring of the fugitives. The placename appears as ''Flimenwelle'' in 1210. The village is linear in shape and the largest of a group of settlements, some of which contain large residential properties, to both the west and east of the main road. Other settlements are ''Union Street'' and ''Dale Hill'' to the west, and ''Seacox Heath'' to the east. Including the surrounding woods and fields, Flimwell covers an area of approximately 3.5 km², of which only approximately 5% is built-up. Until 2020, Flimwell had no defined centre, but this has now changed with the completion of a new Village Hall and two car parks (one at the village hall and one on the High Street for local residents only). There are a number of businesses & facilities in and around the village, including an award-winning smokery and wine store, pub, motel, pine furniture shop, church, cricket ground with pavilion, playground, offices for working with a café, and various businesses. Flimwell parish church is dedicated to

St Augustine of Canterbury Augustine of Canterbury (early 6th century – probably 26 May 604) was a monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founder of the English Church.Delaney ''D ...

. In the 16th century, Flimwell was one of the stages on the

post road A post road is a road designated for the transportation of postal mail. In past centuries, only major towns had a post house and the roads used by post riders or mail coaches to carry mail among them were particularly important ones or, due ...

from London to Rye. On the eastern edge of the village lies Seacox House, owned by the

Russian Embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of Russia. These missions are subordinate to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Russian Federation has one of the largest networks of embassies and consulates of any country. Russia has significant ...

and used as a dacha for Embassy staff. Built in 1871, by architects

Carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

and

Slater A slater, or slate mason, is a tradesman, tradesperson who covers buildings with slate. Tools of the trade The various hand tool, tools of the slater's trade are all drop-forged. The slater's hammer is forged in one single piece, from crucib ...

, it is a Grade II listed building in the style of a French chateau. The house was the subject of news reports in 1999, when dogs from the estate were said to have 'killed approx. 50 ewes and attacked 100 others'. The British Government is considering gifting the dacha to the Ukrainian Government as compensation for the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in East Sussex Ticehurst