A special two-day exhibition held earlier this month celebrated more than a century of Rushmere Heath’s history.
But those compiling the exhibits also unearthed plenty of details about the village’s past that many people won’t be aware of.
From gruesome deaths to military movements the village has its own story to tell.
Much of it has been documented by the Common Committee and the parish council on its website, but more is being unearthed all the time.
During the exhibition, people in the village were also being encouraged to share their own memories and pictures.
Here then are five lesser-known facts about Rushmere’s history.
A bloody past
While today seen as a charming and quiet Suffolk village, Rushmere Common has seen its fair share of death and darkness in the last few hundred years.
The common has hosted plenty of executions, with some figures estimating around a hundred between 1735 and 1797 for crimes including burglary, murder and robbery.
Among those was 26-year-old John Hodgson accused of highway robbery and defrauding the army of £600.
Hodgson had enrolled in the army 98 times to receive payments while rarely carrying out any military duties, but he couldn’t make the trick last forever and found himself before the gallows, which has thankfully long since been removed.
The common at loggerheads
The common was run under the ownership of local manors for at least two centuries, with the Marquis of Bristol among the most unpopular with the commoners.
A committee was formed in 1881 to resist his claims and his attempts to prosecute some of the individuals.
A prominent champion of commoners’ rights was Nathanial Abblit, who outlined their rights in a stone tablet.
The tablet remains visible to this day on the wall of the baptist church.
Workhouse
A workhouse known as Heathfields Poor Law Institution stood on the corner of Woodbridge Road and Heath Road.
It was built in 1898 but by 1912 housed 385 inmates.
It eventually became Ipswich Borough General Infirmary after the Poor Law was axed in the 1930s, which in time became Ipswich Hospital.
Some of the old workhouse buildings remain at the site to this day.
Golf club
When Ipswich Golf Club was formed in 1895, an agreement was drawn up between the Commoners Committee and the club for the club to pay £30 a year.
In return the club asked for non-interference and co-operation in its sporting activities.
The agreement was terminated when the club moved to Purdis Heath.
Shortly after in 1929 Rushmere Golf Club was born.
Set for war
Troops sent to war with France and Napolean trained on the heath in 1803.
By 1813 some 10,000 troops had been based there.
But between 1814 and 1819 the government had to fork out for repairs to the common made by troops while stationed there.
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