Bletchley Park to be saved

Posted by Andrew on 6 November 2008 | 0 Comments

Tags:

BBC NEWS : New lifeline for Bletchley Park

Telegraph : Grant to save wartime code breaking centre Bletchley Park from Ruin.

The Register: Bletchley Park Lifeline

 This is all good news.  Bletchley Park holds great import in Britain's history, not just directly from the code-breaking efforts during the war, but from the post-war work which stemmed from that. I'm sure many would agree, that work had more than just an influence on the development of modern computing. It was, during the war, home to Alan Turing who was heavily involved in breaking the Enigma code. It was also at Bletchley where Colossus was built, arguably the worlds first programmable computer.

It's a shame, however, that it needs grants and charitable donations to keep it going.  When the government departed in 1991, it was almost flattened for a housing estate.  It's incredulous that such a consideration could even be suggested at a site like this, never mind that it was serious.  I'm very glad that the Bletchley Park Trust was formed, and was able to save it. The grant in question will be used primarily to repair the wooden huts that were built there for the estate's wartime efforts.

Bletchley Park estate was formerly part of the Manor of Eaton, and can be traced back to the 11th century.  The impressive mansion that is "Bletchley Park" is the result of the extension of an existing farmhouse, after the estate was purchased by Sir Herbert Samuel Leon in 1883.  An earlier mansion, dating from the 1700s was pulled after the estate changed hands in 1793. Bletchley Park is also home of the National Museum of Computing.