Bletchley Park

Home of the Codebreakers

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Bletchley Park Log

1. Bletchley Park Logo

The Government Code & Cypher School (GC&CS) acquired an initial 58 acres in 1938 taking slightly more land as WWII progressed

Lake with Bletchley Park Mansion

2. The Lake with Bletchley Park Mansion beyond

Set in grand lush gardens the 'modest' gentleman's residence was built in 1878 on the site of an 1711 'Water Hall' & improved upon until the mid-1920's

Bletchley Park Mansion

3. Bletchley Park Mansion 1

Bletchley Park Mansion pdf

Bletchley Park Mansion

4. Bletchley Park Mansion 2

Shrouded in secrecy to this day many have never revealed they worked at Bletchley

Bletchley Park Map

5. Bletchley Park Map

Map compliments of Code & Ciphers

Lake & fountain

6. The Lake & fountain

The lake was formed from medieval fish ponds

Lake & fountain

7. A beautiful recreation spot

Today you'll hear the sounds of the 1940's piped through discreet loudspeakers:

A distant train, off duty staff, rowing boats on the lake, picnics & chit chat

Heron

8. Wild lake abounds with plenty of fish!

Bletchley Park Location Setting pdf

Block B

9. Block B

Antenna is Amateur Radio GB3RS, see below later in feature

Bletchley Park Manor Floor Plan

10. Bletchley Park Manor Floor Plan

Commanding Officers (CO) Office Desk

11. Commanding Officers (CO) Office Desk

CO 1939-1941 Alistair Denniston

Operations Room

12. Operations Room

Mansion Office

13. Mansion Office 1

Mansion Office Imitation Game prop 1

14. Mansion Office 2
15. Imitation Game prop 1

From the 10th November 2014 for one year Bletchley Park staged 'The Imitation Game film exhibition'

Imitation Game prop 2

16. Imitation Game prop 2

Imitation Game prop 3

17. Imitation Game prop 3

Imitation Game prop 4

18. Imitation Game prop 4

Enigma 1 Machine

19. Enigma 1 Machine

Used from the 1930's & WWII

Hut 8 & Bike Shed

20. Hut 8 & Bike Shed (Bletchley Park Archive)

Hut 8 was where Alan Turing worked on the Enigma Code

Period Bicycles

21. Period Bicycles in the Bike Shed

Beginning in December 1932 three Polish cryptologists, Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rózycki & Henryk Zygalski, working for Polish military intelligence were first to break the code

By the outbreak of WWII Germany had made Enigma more sophisticated, with codes changed daily the Poles were struggling to make headway

Their knowledge was passed on & advice on making an Electro-Mechanical Device to simulate the workings of Enigma

Alan TuringAlan Turing's Office in Hut 8

22. Alan Turing (Bletchley Park Archive)
23. Alan Turing's Office in Hut 8

Dilly Knox, John Jeffery's, Peter Twin & Alan Turning unrevealed Enigmas administrative key

Alan Turing & Gordon Welchman designed & built the huge computer know as 'The Bombe' that would finally crack the cipher

The Post Office

24. The Post Office

Last Postmaster

25. The last Post Master

A small Butlers extension was added in 1900, in WWII an undercover mailroom, using Post Box Numbers was established

The General Post Office (GPO) opened for business in 1947, becoming a sub Post Office & Shop it traded for 40 years

When in 1994 Bletchley Park opened as a museum, it was the first Gift Shop issuing its first of its famous first day covers, these are now highly regarded, valuable & much sought after

On the date of these photographs (22nd April 2015) the Post Office closed for the final time

Garages & Cryptographers Building

26. The Garages & Cryptographers Building

Packard Six

27. 1940 Packard Six

The Secret Service (MI6) bought a fleet of Packard Sedans as wireless units in June 1940, for Section 7 the Communications Branch HQ at Waddon Hall 5 miles outside Bletchley

Prior to being fitted with HRO radio receivers, Mark III Transmitters, batteries & chargers, they were taken to Tickfords, Newport Pagnell, shot blasted of their bright colours & camouflage painted

A number of these cars were attached to the Admiralty, War Office, RAF Command & Ultra Top Secret Personnel to ensure communication in the event of German invasion

Cryptographers Building

28. Cryptographers Building

Water Tower

29. Water Tower

Bletchley Park (Station X) was accommodated in the Water Tower

Bombe 1

30. Bombe 1

The world's only fully-operational Bombe rebuild - the electro-mechanical device used to mechanise the process of breaking Enigma

Bombe 2

31. Bombe 2

Bombe 3 Alan Turing sculpture

32. Bombe 3
33. Alan Turing sculpture

Sculpture of Alan Turing by Stephen Kettle

34. Sculpture of Alan Turing by Stephen Kettle

Codebreaker Memorial

35. Codebreaker Memorial

Unveiled by HM Queen in 2011 the words on the side read, “We Also Served”

Testament to the 800 personal that worked diligently at Bletchley Park

Cipher Office

36. Cipher Office (Bletchley Park Archive)

Hollerith Punch Room

37. Hollerith Punch Room (Bletchley Park Archive)

Registration Room

38. Registration Room (Bletchley Park Archive)

Direction Finding Plotting Room

39. Direction Finding Plotting Room (Bletchley Park Archive)

'Shanghai' Bombe

40. 'Shanghai' Bombe at Eastcote (Bletchley Park Archive)

Swans at the lake

41. Swans at the lake

Return to Car Park & be sure to visit Hut 1

National Radio Centre Logo

42. The National Radio Centre Logo

Housed in Hut 1 adjacent to the main site you'll find the National Radio Centre

Gerald Marcuse at 2NM

43. Gerald Marcuse at 2NM (National Radio Centre)

Gerald's Amateur Station 2NM broadcast across the British Empire from his Surrey Home in 1927

An interactive exhibition traces early radio & TV with experts on hand. you might like to try your hand at world wide communication on their amateur radio station GB3RS

National Radio Centre 100 Years Logo

44. The National Radio Centre 100 Years Logo

Leave The National Radio Centre, Bletchley Park Site, walk through entrance to main road along Jerima Way, turn right walk along Sherwood Drive, turn left on to footpath with Bletchley Park perimeter fence on your right ...

Original Main Gate

45. Original Main Gate 1

You'll reach the original main entrance gate ...

Original Main Gate Block G

46. Original Main Gate 2
47. Block G 

Walk past Bletchley Park's Wartime Canteen in Block G ...

Block G

48. Block G 

... at Wilton Hall turn left, then right to pick up Bletchley Park perimeter fence again on your right ...

St Mary's Church

49. St Mary's Church

... follow path to St Mary's Church, it was here that many Bletchley Park personnel were married, a fitting end

Bletchley Park Home of the Codebreakers logo

50. Bletchley Park Home of the Codebreakers logo

To fully appreciate Bletchley Park set aside two days, you'll need it!

The (pdf) files in this feature are a taster of thevast archive of material available at the Bletchley Park website


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