This England: Bletchley Park

Rick ticked off a bucket list activity when he went to Wigmore Hall. For me, the bucket list item to tick was a visit to Bletchley Park. This place, where some say "England won the war" by deciphering the German codes, has intrigued me through countless books, films ("The Imitation Game," among others) and television ("The Bletchley Circle).

I'm not going to go through all the history of this remarkable place in world history here because I could never do it half as well as the remarkable Mike Biles did in his blog "A Bit About Britain." I hope you will decide to read on HERE and again, HERE. His posts and history are in depth and the photos are terrific. They should sell a printed version of his two posts at the gift shop. (Plus, if you know Mike's blog, it's always interesting and fun!)

We left on a beautiful October morning from London's Euston Station for a train ride that was about 90 minutes. When we arrived, we were about a block or so from an imposing white building that was the first of many in the park.

We entered, paid our 17.50 senior admission each and were off, completely equipped with an excellent audio tour. The  early exhibits provided an overview of the history of World War II and Bletchley's impact on the war itself. (To read details on maps and photos, click on the pictures!)

There were many maps, and explanatory displays that explained the work done by the codebreakers and the world situation at the time.

 

And once you'd learned a bit about things, it was nice to participate in interactive displays where you could decipher codes, among other things. 

And of course, a famous "enigma" machine was on display. The machine is a cipher device used to protect military communication. The Germans were experts at it, using it to communicate and encipher top secret military messages. My photo was lousy so here's one from Wikipedia.

Much of this action took place in Block B, a series of buildings where men and women tackled the challenges of codebreaking messages that meant the difference between life and death to those on the battlefields.

 

While the Bletchley team is most associated with breaking the enigma code, it was actually a Polish mathematician, Marian Rejewski, who first broke the secrets of the machine and shared information with the British and French. The Poles used that info to build their own Enigma machines. The transfer of knowledge and technology from the Poles to the Brits made possible more development of Engima at Bletchley Park.

The mansion at Bletchley  Park was acquired to serve as the Government Code and Cyper School in 1938. It was at the Mansion that operations were over seen by Commander Alastair Denniston and his team. It was an imposing building, with living rooms turned into offices, ballrooms packed with desks for workers.

 

But the staff at the park was far greater than military people. There were chess champions and crossword wizards, linguists cryptanalysis and professors, particularly mathematicians. 

 

One exhibit in the mansion included the memories of those who worked there. For decades, staff could not speak about their wartime service, as it was protected by the National Secrets Act. This was lifted and the display explains what many of the people actually did and what life was like socially among those who lived near the park. There were videos in many of the rooms, explaining what was done there.

The staff included Alan Turing, a Cambridge mathematician whose story is told (mostly factually, with liberties) in "The Imitation Game." 

By 1945, nearly 10,000 people were working at Bletchley and three quarters of them were women, many of whom were multi-lingual.  

 The tour included the "huts" in which the codebreakers worked, among them, Alan Turing's office.

Things are set up as they might have been on any given work day, with files on the table, things stacked up.

We also got to visit the Motor Pool, which had an interesting selection of vehicles.

This one was especially handsome!

 

 And, the bicycle area. Of course, Rick had to give this one a special look!

 

Video projections illustrated the types of conferences workers might share. There were also very interesting films, both about the period and about some of those who worked there.

And we especially enjoyed being able to take little tests to see what we had absorbed!

 You would see a video or listen to the audio guide that might explain what's happening on the page below -- then an interactive  spot where you could pick what you thought was the right answer!

One of the highlights is seeing the Bombe machine, which is so complicated, I can't begin to explain it to you. But it was a big deal! These machines had stacks of rotors that would spin together to test multiple combinations from the Enigma machine. I nabbed this photo of the reconstruction of the Bombe in Bletchley from Wikipedia, too.

I have to say, the amount of information, the whole layout, was almost overwhelming. There's a lot of content here and I wanted to watch every video and absorb every story.

And there just wasn't time. I suspect many school children visit Bletchley -- we certainly saw a group during our visit.

It's important for the students to know about and equally important for adults to remember. In terms of years, World War II is beginning to seem far removed. Young people today in Europe and the United States are less likely to have experienced rationing, blackouts, and falling bombs, along with the deaths of loved ones. Fascism and Nationalism are returning to the world stage in very ugly ways. The enemies may be different but the threat is the same.

 

Being reminded of what has happened in the past will -- hopefully -- remind us all to beware in the future.

Travel Tips:

• Timing is Everything. We didn't allow ourselves enough time to wander through this and we took four hours. We completely missed at least one building, which had a film, and part of another which had a greater focus on Turing, which I would have liked to see. I'd give yourself at least five hours for Bletchley.
• We didn't have time to hit the Computer Museum, either. It wouldn't be my thing, but if it is yours, plan for the day.
  
• Tickets are good for a year so if you are planning to be in England for any length of time or returning, you might want to take advantage of that. 
• There is a lot of walking here. It worked for us (and it was a gorgeous day). But if you are planning to visit, you might want to check the weather report. I did not see any wheelchairs but the buildings seemed quite accessible. (Don't hold me to that one, though!) Bonus -- it's pretty territory for a walk and if you want to make a day of it, consider bringing a picnic or snack to enjoy beside the lake.

• The train ride is about an hour from Euston station, though I think there are shorter rides, depending on the local stops. When I checked tickets today, they ran from about 9 to 15 pounds. I'm not sure if this is seasonal, but if you get tickets day of travel, they may be more expensive.