Saffron Walden (UK Parliament constituency) It borders Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, and also extends deep into the middle of Essex near Chelmsford. Three medium-sized market towns, Saffron Walden, Dunmow and Halstead are in the constituency. All three have historic links, and are busy and regionally visitor-drawing towns in the South East. The largest single source of employment in the constituency is Stansted Airport, while there are also a host of small businesses, many of them high-tech, along and at the ends of the London-Cambridge corridor. The constituency consists of Census Output Areas of two local government districts with similar characteristics. Uttlesford district forms the bulk, and
Saffron Walden a number of others had departed for the Massachusetts Bay Colony as part of the Great Migration. Saffron Walden was at the centre of the Eastern Association during the English Civil War. While the town was the headquarters of the New Model Army, Lieutenant-General of Horse, Oliver Cromwell paid a 19-day visit in May 1647, taking part in debates to seek a settlement between Parliament and the army. He is thought to have stayed at the "Sun Inn". By the end of the 18th century saffron was no longer in demand and the industry was replaced by malt and barley.