Surrey
Surrey's most significant source of prosperity in the later Middle Ages was the production of woollen cloth, which emerged during that period as England's main export industry. The county was an early centre of English textile manufacturing, benefiting from the presence of deposits of fuller's earth, the rare mineral composite important in the process of finishing cloth, around Reigate and Nutfield. The industry in Surrey was focused on Guildford, which gave its name to a variety of cloth, "gilforte", which was exported widely across Europe and the Middle East and imitated by manufacturers elsewhere in Europe. However, as the English cloth industry expanded, Surrey was outstripped by other growing regions of production.
Though Surrey was not the scene of serious fighting in the various rebellions and civil wars of the period, armies from Kent heading for London via Southwark passed through what were then the extreme north-eastern fringes of Surrey during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and Cade's Rebellion in 1450, and at various stages of the Wars of the Roses in 1460, 1469 and 1471. The upheaval of 1381 also involved widespread local unrest in Surrey, as was the case all across south-eastern England, and some recruits from Surrey joined the Kentish rebel army.
East of England
Cambridgeshire has a few Royal Air Force bases. Subway (restaurants) is in Great Shelford. Unwins Seeds is in Alconbury Weston next to the A1. Avanquest UK, the home software company which bought EMME (which bought GSP in 2000) in 2007, is in St Ives, off the A1096. Nestlé Purina PetCare makes petfood at its South Brink factory in Wisbech, with another in Sudbury, Suffolk. Princes (formerly owned by Premier Foods before February 2011) can vegetables and baked beans, and makes Loyd Grossman cooking sauces in the town. Lamb Weston (potato products) is on the Weasanham Lane Ind Estate in the south of Wisbech, and next door Del Monte can fruit. On the Middle Level Main Drain at Marshland St James, south of Wisbech, Herbert Engineering is Britain's main producer of potato graders. The main water company for the area, AWG plc and International Audio Group are based in Huntingdon. JDR Cable Systems makes underwater cables at the A10/A1101 roundabout at Littleport. McCain Foods has a factory (which was the largest frozen food factory in the world when it opened in 1976, processing 200,000 tonnes of potatoes annually) on the A605 and railway, near London Brick, at Whittlesey, towards Peterborough.
RAF Wittering was the home of the Harrier from August 1969 until December 2010, and now houses Army personnel, along with the RAF Regiment. British Sugar, Silver Spoon and the Billington Food Group are based near each other in Peterborough, as is Perkins Engines (diesel engines). News International has a main office there and Indesit (owner of Hotpoint, previously owned by General Electric Company before 2007) has its UK headquarters in Woodston. Next door is Applied Energy Products (part of Glen Dimplex), which owns Redring, Credair and Xpelair. The N&P Building Society (since November 2011 part of the Yorkshire Building Society) is in Orton Northgate. Bauer Radio and Bauer Consumer Media (formerly EMAP Consumer Media) are headquartered on "Lincoln Road". EMAP has its magazine headquarters off the A605 in Orton Wistow; and BGL Group ("Compare The Market") is in Orton Southgate next to the Peterborough services. Ronart Cars and Radical Sportscars develop sports cars at Westwood. Baker Perkins makes food processing equipment next to the "Paston Parkway" (A15) in Gunthorpe.
The United States Air Force still has bases in Suffolk. Johnsons and Mr Fothergill's produce seeds in Kentford, off the A14. In Newmarket is the base of the British horse racing industry and the National Horseracing Museum. Claas, is based on the side of the A14 just west of Bury St Edmunds at The Saxhams, Zetor Tractors UK is in Downham Market, and New Holland Agriculture (and also the UK base of Fiat-owned CNH Global) is in Basildon where there is a large tractor factory. The RAF Regiment is based at RAF Honington, between the A1088 and A134, south of Thetford, partly in Fakenham Magna. The 100th Air Refueling Wing, which flies the KC-135 is at RAF Mildenhall. Silverline is a main maker of steel office furniture (filing cabinets and tambour desks) in Mildenhall, next to the airfield. Greene King and Branston Pickle are in Bury St Edmunds, and British Sugar makes all its icing sugar and caster sugar there.