The constituency includes as its major settlements the towns of Barnard Castle, Middleton-in-Teesdale, Bishop Auckland, Shildon, Spennymoor and its contiguous suburb village, Tudhoe, with their surrounding villages, dales and fields. The seat contains the market town of Bishop Auckland which has a mixed modern and historic high street, the similarly sized Barnard Castle, and large areas used for agriculture, particularly hill farming on the rolling landscape that cuts into the Pennines with substantial livestock.[3] Most housing, many small towns and most facilities were built in the prosperous era of coal mining which brought thousands of workers to live in Bishop Auckland town and neighbouring settlements. Manufacturing, including food processing and packaging, public sector employment, retail and agriculture are the main employers.[3]
Within the seat are
Binchester Roman Fort (Vinovia), The Bowes Museum, and enclosures and industrial workings on Cockfield Fell.[4]
Boundaries
1885–1918
Part of the Sessional Division of Bishop Auckland.[5]
The urban and rural districts of Barnard Castle transferred from the abolished constituency thereof.
1955–1974
As above, except the part of the Middridge ward transferred to the Rural District of Darlington by the County of Durham (Parish of Great Aycliffe) Confirmation Order 1952 (Statutory Instrument 1953/741).[9]
1974–1983
The Urban Districts of Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, and Shildon; and
the Rural Districts of Barnard Castle and Darlington.[10]
Gained the rural district of Darlington (which contained the new town of Newton Aycliffe) from the abolished constituency of Sedgefield.
1983–1997
The District of Wear Valley wards of Bishop Auckland Town, Cockton Hill, Coundon, Coundon Grange, Escomb, Henknowle, St Helen's, West Auckland, and Woodhouse Close;
the District of Sedgefield wards of Byerley, Middridge, Neville, Shafto, Simpasture, Sunnydale, Thickley, West, and Woodham.[11]
Rural areas around Darlington returned to the re-established Sedgefield constituency.
1997-present
Map of current boundaries
The District of Wear Valley wards of Bishop Auckland Town, Cockton Hill, Coundon, Coundon Grange, Escomb, Henknowle, St Helen's, West Auckland, and Woodhouse Close;
the District of Teesdale; and
the District of Sedgefield wards of Byerley, Low Spennymoor and Tudhoe Grange, Middlestone, Spennymoor, Sunnydale, Thickley, and Tudhoe.[12][13]
Gained Spennymoor from Sedgefield in exchange for Newton Aycliffe.
2007 Boundary review
Following a review of parliamentary representation in County Durham in 2007, the
; however, this has not affected the boundaries of the constituency.
Proposed
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the next general election, due by January 2025, the constituency will be composed of the following electoral divisions of the County of Durham (as they existed on 1 December 2020):
Barnard Castle East; Barnard Castle West; Bishop Auckland Town; Coundon; Crook; Evenwood; Shildon and Dene Valley; Tow Law; Weardale; West Auckland; Woodhouse Close.[14]
From 1935 to 2017 inclusive, the seat's voters returned MPs from the Labour Party; the former Labour Chancellor of the ExchequerHugh Dalton, was the MP for Bishop Auckland from 1929 to 1931, and after regaining the seat in 1935, remained an MP until 1959. The 2019 result returned a Conservative; the party's results had shown an increase from election to election from 2001 onwards, going from 20% of the vote in the previous 1997 election to a majority of votes at 53% in 2019.
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;