Bletchley Park

On Saturday, Warren and I went to Bletchley Park with our friends Cierra and Ben. Bletchley Park is where England did most of their codebreaking during World War II and is known mostly for the work done by Alan Turing to break the German Enigma code. 

Most of the work was done in very small rooms that were really dark. To save on electricity they limited the use of heaters and had minimal lighting. During breaks the personnel would enjoy the beautiful lake and grounds by playing tennis, ice skating in the winter, and just generally spending time outside. 

The mansion on the property was mainly used for dining but also had a radio tower to receive messages. 

The inside of the mansion was beautiful and very well preserved. After the end of the war, the work done at Bletchley Park remained a secret. It took over 50 years before the government acknowledged any details about the people and the work done here.

Here is Cierra with a statue of Winston Churchill inside the mansion.

The room shown below was a dining room for the Bletchley personnel. In later years, they brought in a cook and people were served food at a long dining table by waitresses.

This was the staircase leading up to the radio tower known as Station X. The stairs were off limits so we were not able to see the inside of the tower in person.

Last year the movie, The Imitation Game, about Alan Turing and his work at Bletchley Park was released. It starred Benedict Cumberbatch and Kiera Knightley. Currently there is a special exhibit at Bletchley featuring some of the sets and costumes from the movie. 

These next few photos are of the pub scenery used in the movie. Everything was much smaller and closer together in real life than I thought it would be from watching the movie.

This is the prop from the movie of Alan Turing's machine that broke the enigma code. Since the German military changed the code each day, it would have been nearly impossible to break the code by hand. It is speculated that the invention of this machine shortened the war by two years. 

At the end of the war, everything used in Bletchley was destroyed or disassembled. The museum has tried to put together some replicas and set it up the way it might have looked during the war. But compared to the movie sets, the museum set up looked pretty shabby. So here are some more photos of the rooms featured in The Imitation Game. 

Most of the staff working at Bletchley were educated women and the men who worked there were primarily engineers, linguists, or mathematicians. This is mostly because all the other young men were serving on the front lines. 

A few methods used to break the codes were called Cilli and Cribs. Cilli meant looking for commonplace language like swear words or names. The German soldiers were instructed not to use these words but it still happened regularly. Cribs was a technique where they would look for words like "eins" (the German word for "one"), addresses like "To the Group," or a weather forecast.

Throughout Bletchley they have these war propaganda posters on the walls. I liked this one that reads, "Don't forget that walls have ears!" with an image of Hitler throughout the wallpaper. 

Below is a photo of one of the German Enigma machines that are on display in the museum. The Enigma machine actually predates the war in that it was invented by the Polish and was used in the 1920s in financial services. 

Also on display is this working replica of one of the Bombe machines invented by Alan Turing. He worked specifically on breaking the naval enigma codes. The Bombe machine is known as the precursor to the modern day computer. 

This statue of Alan Turing was a focal point of the museum at Bletchley. 

Here I am with Cierra at the memorial to those who served their country at Bletchley Park. 

It is rare that I get an opportunity to get a photo with Warren since he is almost always working, even on the weekend.

Bletchley Park is a short train ride from London and definitely worth the visit. If you take the train you can print off a voucher through the National Rail website to get a 2 for 1 deal on the admission to the museum and grounds.