Bletchly Park

Bletchley Park was the central site for British codebreakers during World War II. It housed the Government Code and Cypher School (GC& CS), which regularly penetrated the secret communications of the Axis Powersmost importantly the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers. According to the official historian of British Intelligence, the "Ultra" intelligence produced at Bletchley shortened the war by two to four years, and that without it the outcome of the war would have been uncertain. Located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Bletchley Park is open to the public, and receives hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. SiteBletchley Park is opposite Bletchley railway station. It is close to junctions 13 and 14 of the M1. Located 50mi northwest of London, the site appears in the Domesday Book as part of the Manor of Eaton. Browne Willis built a mansion there in 1711, but after Thomas Harrison purchased the property in 1793 this was pulled down. It was first known as Bletchley Park after its purchase by Samuel Lipscomb Seckham in 1877. The estate of 581acres was bought in 1883 by Sir Herbert Samuel Leon, who expanded the then-existing farmhouse into what architect Landis Gores called a "maudlin and monstrous pile" combining Victorian Gothic, Tudor, and Dutch Baroque styles.

Bletchley Park was the central site for British codebreakers during World War II. It housed the Government Code and Cypher School (GC& CS), which regularly penetrated the secret communications of the Axis Powersmost importantly the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers. According to the official historian of British Intelligence, the "Ultra" intelligence produced at Bletchley shortened the war by two to four years, and that without it the outcome of the war would have been uncertain. Located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Bletchley Park is open to the public, and receives hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. SiteBletchley Park is opposite Bletchley railway station. It is close to junctions 13 and 14 of the M1. Located 50mi northwest of London, the site appears in the Domesday Book as part of the Manor of Eaton. Browne Willis built a mansion there in 1711, but after Thomas Harrison purchased the property in 1793 this was pulled down. It was first known as Bletchley Park after its purchase by Samuel Lipscomb Seckham in 1877. The estate of 581acres was bought in 1883 by Sir Herbert Samuel Leon, who expanded the then-existing farmhouse into what architect Landis Gores called a "maudlin and monstrous pile" combining Victorian Gothic, Tudor, and Dutch Baroque styles.