Bletchley Park

Bletchley Park was built in 1883 as a private Mansion by Sir Herbert Leon. Over a decade later the site is now run as the National Codes Centre for tourists and can be found on the outer reaches of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire.

During WWII Bletchley Park became home to the Government’s Code and Cipher School and it was here that one of the most significant advancements was made by an elite team of codebreakers in cracking the German Enigma machine. It is also here that the first programmable computer was designed by Max Newman; the machine was aptly named ‘Colossus’ since it dominated an entire room. It is believed that the Government employed over 10,000 workers here at its workforce peak.

The future of Bletchley Park now looks bleak due to insufficient maintenance funding and a large area of the site has fallen into disrepair over the years - this area is sealed off from the rest of the site pending redevelopment and the photos of flaky walls and caved-in floor boards were taken from my exploration in the former cryptanalysis section of the Army and Air force Enigma buildings.