| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… 20:41 - Dec 5 with 5010 views | alial |
On Rushmere Heath, in the middle of the golf course. Between the 16th(?) and 13th(?) holes.
Does anyone know what it was used for? I wondered if there was any history to it?
Just saw a thread about how few Sunday League teams there are now vs the past and it got me thinking about that pitch and it’s history. [Post edited 5 Dec 2022 20:54]
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| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 13:41 - Dec 6 with 1426 views | DJR |
Looking at the area east of Ipswich, it is a little sad to see how much of the heathland has been built on.
It forms part of a five mile wide strip, known as the East Suffolk Sandlings, extending from Ipswich to just north of Lowestoft. I remember being taught about it in school, and it's a shame that 80% of the sandy heathlands have been lost since the 1930s. From what I can recall, it was laid down during the last ice age.
https://issuu.com/suffolknaturalistssociety/docs/tsns15_5_a
https://www.discoversuffolk.org.uk/promoted-trails/sandlings/ [Post edited 6 Dec 2022 13:43]
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| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 14:24 - Dec 6 with 1394 views | ITFC_Forever |
Ah, that wasn't the place I was thinking of.
If you look to the Heath Road entrance and then right of the first big group of trees, you can see the remains of the old mini speedway track.... the goalposts without crossbars were further right of that (old wooden posts with rusted diagonal stanchions). |  |
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| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 15:12 - Dec 6 with 1341 views | DJR |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 14:24 - Dec 6 by ITFC_Forever |
Ah, that wasn't the place I was thinking of.
If you look to the Heath Road entrance and then right of the first big group of trees, you can see the remains of the old mini speedway track.... the goalposts without crossbars were further right of that (old wooden posts with rusted diagonal stanchions). |
That's where I remember them being. | | | |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 15:48 - Dec 6 with 1330 views | lurcher |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 13:41 - Dec 6 by DJR |
Looking at the area east of Ipswich, it is a little sad to see how much of the heathland has been built on.
It forms part of a five mile wide strip, known as the East Suffolk Sandlings, extending from Ipswich to just north of Lowestoft. I remember being taught about it in school, and it's a shame that 80% of the sandy heathlands have been lost since the 1930s. From what I can recall, it was laid down during the last ice age.
https://issuu.com/suffolknaturalistssociety/docs/tsns15_5_a
https://www.discoversuffolk.org.uk/promoted-trails/sandlings/ [Post edited 6 Dec 2022 13:43]
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I agree, having grown up in Kesgrave. I think Foxhall heath is going to be under threat over the next few years. |  | | |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 15:49 - Dec 6 with 1327 views | lurcher |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 14:24 - Dec 6 by ITFC_Forever |
Ah, that wasn't the place I was thinking of.
If you look to the Heath Road entrance and then right of the first big group of trees, you can see the remains of the old mini speedway track.... the goalposts without crossbars were further right of that (old wooden posts with rusted diagonal stanchions). |
Actually that rings a bell, I think there were 2 tracks | | | |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 15:59 - Dec 6 with 1324 views | itfcjoe |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 15:48 - Dec 6 by lurcher |
I agree, having grown up in Kesgrave. I think Foxhall heath is going to be under threat over the next few years. |
I can't see them building on it, I live on Rushmere Heath and the Commoners Committee are so OTT - we aren't even allowed to put road plainings down on a road that services 40 houses on the Heath because it is technically a footpath |  |
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| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 16:54 - Dec 6 with 1294 views | DJR |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 15:59 - Dec 6 by itfcjoe |
I can't see them building on it, I live on Rushmere Heath and the Commoners Committee are so OTT - we aren't even allowed to put road plainings down on a road that services 40 houses on the Heath because it is technically a footpath |
Rushmere Heath is safe because it is common land but I suppose you could argue it is not true heathland because it has a golf course throughout.
I am not sure if the same is true of Foxhill Heath (or what is left of it) given all the development to the north of Foxhall Road.
And don't forget Warren Heath (along Felixstowe Road) is no more.
Incidentally, much of Kesgrave must have been at one time heathland.
EDIT: Purdis Heath is presumably safe too because of Ipswich Golf Club, but there probably isn't much in the way of heathland left.
FURTHER EDIT: I lived on Broke Hall, and think that must have been heathland too at one time, given the small Bixley Heath Nature Reserve to the south, which I remember playing in as a kid. [Post edited 6 Dec 2022 17:13]
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| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 09:57 - Dec 7 with 1199 views | DJR |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 16:54 - Dec 6 by DJR |
Rushmere Heath is safe because it is common land but I suppose you could argue it is not true heathland because it has a golf course throughout.
I am not sure if the same is true of Foxhill Heath (or what is left of it) given all the development to the north of Foxhall Road.
And don't forget Warren Heath (along Felixstowe Road) is no more.
Incidentally, much of Kesgrave must have been at one time heathland.
EDIT: Purdis Heath is presumably safe too because of Ipswich Golf Club, but there probably isn't much in the way of heathland left.
FURTHER EDIT: I lived on Broke Hall, and think that must have been heathland too at one time, given the small Bixley Heath Nature Reserve to the south, which I remember playing in as a kid. [Post edited 6 Dec 2022 17:13]
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The following link to a zoomable 1920s Ordnance Survey map shows extensive heathland to the east of Ipswich, the vast majority of it now gone. That in turn is probably much less extensive than it once was because, for example, it doesn't show Kesgrave as heathland, although heathland lies to both the north and south of Kesgrave.
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/find/#zoom=13.0&lat=52.05302&lon=1.25156&lay [Post edited 7 Dec 2022 10:03]
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| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 10:17 - Dec 7 with 1176 views | lurcher |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 15:59 - Dec 6 by itfcjoe |
I can't see them building on it, I live on Rushmere Heath and the Commoners Committee are so OTT - we aren't even allowed to put road plainings down on a road that services 40 houses on the Heath because it is technically a footpath |
The speedway stadium is the big issue, the golf course might be safe. Bt the swathe of land including the stadium, its car park and across to the autovon site could all be under threat. | | | |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 10:21 - Dec 7 with 1164 views | lurcher |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 16:54 - Dec 6 by DJR |
Rushmere Heath is safe because it is common land but I suppose you could argue it is not true heathland because it has a golf course throughout.
I am not sure if the same is true of Foxhill Heath (or what is left of it) given all the development to the north of Foxhall Road.
And don't forget Warren Heath (along Felixstowe Road) is no more.
Incidentally, much of Kesgrave must have been at one time heathland.
EDIT: Purdis Heath is presumably safe too because of Ipswich Golf Club, but there probably isn't much in the way of heathland left.
FURTHER EDIT: I lived on Broke Hall, and think that must have been heathland too at one time, given the small Bixley Heath Nature Reserve to the south, which I remember playing in as a kid. [Post edited 6 Dec 2022 17:13]
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My fathers house in old Kesgrave was farmland. The gardens of the houses on the eastern side of Alberta close all back onto a traditional hedge ditch and spaced oak trees that were a way of marking land/farmland. | | | |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 10:32 - Dec 7 with 1159 views | DJR |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 10:21 - Dec 7 by lurcher |
My fathers house in old Kesgrave was farmland. The gardens of the houses on the eastern side of Alberta close all back onto a traditional hedge ditch and spaced oak trees that were a way of marking land/farmland. |
Yes, it looks like Kesgrave was farmland before the housing estates were built, but I sense it would have been heathland at one time because the Ordnance Survey map I linked to showed heathland to the north and south of Kesgrave. | | | |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 10:37 - Dec 7 with 1142 views | lurcher |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 10:32 - Dec 7 by DJR |
Yes, it looks like Kesgrave was farmland before the housing estates were built, but I sense it would have been heathland at one time because the Ordnance Survey map I linked to showed heathland to the north and south of Kesgrave. |
Always been told that my father's house was farmland going back a few hundred years, as the composition of the hedge dates it . But yes it's all originally heathland, sandy top soil. | | | |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 10:42 - Dec 7 with 1133 views | DJR |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 10:37 - Dec 7 by lurcher |
Always been told that my father's house was farmland going back a few hundred years, as the composition of the hedge dates it . But yes it's all originally heathland, sandy top soil. |
As confirmed by the following zoomable link which shows extensive acidic sandy soils east of Ipswich, including Kesgrave, which are typical of what was once, or still is, heathland.
https://www.landis.org.uk/soilscapes/ [Post edited 7 Dec 2022 10:43]
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| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 11:46 - Dec 7 with 1089 views | ITFC_Forever |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 10:17 - Dec 7 by lurcher |
The speedway stadium is the big issue, the golf course might be safe. Bt the swathe of land including the stadium, its car park and across to the autovon site could all be under threat. |
I'm pretty sure there's a covenant in place on Foxhall Stadium and the car park that it can only be used for sports use, so it's future is secure. | |
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| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 14:43 - Dec 7 with 1045 views | Swansea_Blue |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 10:53 - Dec 6 by Trequartista |
The 1970s speedway fantasists track was definitely in the same area. It’s possibly half of it still visible just to the top right of the football pitch area. |
The one nearer Heath Road entrance was here:
https://goo.gl/maps/yQDDk4xHPr2y9qMMA
There's been a bit of housing estate creep since those days, to say the least. |  |
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| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 15:49 - Dec 7 with 1019 views | lurcher |
| There used to be Goal posts and a pitch… on 11:46 - Dec 7 by ITFC_Forever |
I'm pretty sure there's a covenant in place on Foxhall Stadium and the car park that it can only be used for sports use, so it's future is secure. |
Portman road has one but I am not sure the same exists for the speedway stadium. The council is quite is tough on the stadium, they have refused Spedeworth planning permission to build anything and are quite tight on the noise curfew. The land is owned by the 50+ hereditary shareholders of the original Ipswich speedway team that packed up in the early 60s and those shareholders are all holding out for a pay day. They have refused multiple time to sell the land to Spedeworth who promote the cars or John Berry who promoted speedway the 2nd time around. | | | |
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