The formation in 1974 of the metropolitan counties of South and West Yorkshire spilt the coal mining constituency of Hemsworth right down the middle, and led to the formation of Barnsley East. Labour's Jeff Ennis has been MP here since a 1996 by-election.
The constituency consists almost exclusively of small towns built for one industry - coal. With the decline, indeed virtual extinction, of the industry in this part of the world, these small and battered communities have struggled on with male unemployment well above the national average.
Manual workers and their families form 60% of the population, and the council is attempting a series of reclamation and regeneration projects in the town of Dearne and its surrounding areas.
Other towns that fall within this South Yorkshire constituency include Grimethorpe (famous for its brass band), Thurnscoe, Darfield and Wombwell.
In the east beyond Mexborough is an area of farms on the other side of the A1(M), and beyond them the urban vistas of Richmond Hill, Scawsby and Cusworth, which are all close to Doncaster. 99.6% of the population here is white.