Traditionally it has been a Liberal Democrat-Conservative marginal, which in 2007 elected the youngest councillor in Britain, at eighteen years of age.

It also had strategic importance during the time of the Spanish Armada – it was used as a meeting place for contingents from eight eastern and midland counties (900 horsemen assembled here) to then travel on to Tilbury.

The chapel is near the Warley (Brentwood) Army Reserve drill hall, which is the headquarters of 124 Petroleum Squadron, part of 151 (London) Transport Regiment of the Royal Logistic Corps.

[3] The site of the old regimental depot and barracks was redeveloped in the 1960s for the headquarters of the Ford Motor Company (architect T.P.

Most of the barracks have been demolished and only the chapel, the officers' mess (now Marillac Nursing Home) and one of the regimental gyms (Keys Hall) remain.