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> United Kingdom > England > East of England > East of England
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| Established | February 28, 1974 |
| Disbanded | Still Active |
| Contributor | RP |
| Last Modified | RBH November 19, 2021 06:58pm |
| Description |
This seat was one of seven which saw a cabinet minister defeated in May 1997, in the form of Tony (now Lord) Newton, the then Leader of the House of Commons. It covers much of the area which is administered by Braintree Council, but not all of it: the northern chunk of the council area comes into the neighbouring seat of Saffron Walden. It has quite a rural flavour to it, although the two main towns - Braintree and Witham - retain traditional manufacturing industries, particularly engineering, while also having attracted new industries and office developments. Along with the working-class suburb of Bocking, it is in these parts which Labour traditionally has secured most of its support. Witham and Bocking are both medieval wool towns. There are also quite a few commuters here, with the A12 and the railway line into Liverpool Street providing easy access to the capital. Many commuters live in growing communities such as Kelvedon, Coggeshall and Hatfield Peverel, as well as Black Notley and White Notley in the Brain Valley. Several thousand new private homes have been built in recent years. The town of Braintree itself boasts a museum about the district and a Working Silk Museum. Witham was home to the author Dorothy L Sayers, and there is a centre within Witham's Library dedicated to her. There have been settlements in the constituency for centuries, as is demonstrated by the existence of the Roman road, Stane Street, which runs through part of the seat, linking Colchester and St. Albans. There is also a village called Earls Colne, which lies on the River Colne in the Colne Valley - not to be confused with the constituency in Yorkshire of the same name - and a little hamlet called Rotten End.
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