The origin of the place-name is from the Old English words fliema and wella meaning the spring of the fugitives. The placename appears as Flimenwelle in 1210.[3]
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 A21. 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.
A new village hall was completed in 2020. 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, a park with a café and offices, and various other businesses.
In the 16th century, Flimwell was one of the stages on the post road from London to Rye.[4]
On the eastern edge of the village lies Seacox Heath, a dacha owned by the Russian Embassy and used by its staff. Built in 1871 by architects Carpenter and Slater, it is a Grade II listed building in the style of a French chateau. The dacha 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'.[5] The British Government is considering gifting the property to the Ukrainian Government as compensation for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[6]
^Mills, A.D. (2011) [first published 1991]. A Dictionary of British Place Names (First edition revised 2011 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 191. ISBN9780199609086.
