[4] During the Second World War, East Ruston was the location of British Army roadblocks and a reserve training area in preparation for resistance of a German invasion of England.

East Ruston's parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary and dates from the Fourteenth Century, though it has been significantly re-modelled and restored in the Victorian era.

There are good examples of Nineteenth Century stained glass, particularly a depiction of the Presentation of Christ by A. L. Moore as well as a font that was recut in the 1880s.

East Ruston is named as Abe Slaney's hiding place in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story, The Adventure of the Dancing Men.

East Ruston War Memorial is a short stone plinth topped with a Celtic cross in St. Mary's Churchyard.