Bletchley Park was the centre of the codebreaking operations during WW2. This is where people like Alan Turing worked to successfully crack the coded messages sent by the German Enigma machine - and others. This estate is now a collection of displays and museums including the National Museum of Computing. Bletchley Park is near Milton Keynes halfway between Cambridge and Oxford - just a 40 minute train ride from London.
Entry to Bletchley Park - the work done here remained a secret for 30 years after WW2.
Lake on the estate - just in front of the mansion.
A display of a German radio station.
An Enigma cipher machine.
A reconstruction of the 'Bombe' machine designed by Alan Turing and another mathematician Gordon Welchman. This machine was built to mechanise the codebreaking of messages encrypted by the German Enigma machines. Over 200 Bombe machines built but all were destroyed after the war - this one has been reconstructed at Bletchley park.
The Colossus - claimed to be the world's first semi-programmable computer. This was built to help decode messages encrypted by the German Lorenz machines - more complex encrypting machines than the Enigmas. Over 10 Colossus machines were used at Bletchley Park. This photo shows a fully operational reconstruction of the Colossus at the National Museum of Computing on the Bletchley Park estate.
Statue of Alan Turing - made of slate.
That must have been a great place to visit, especially for those rare people who have a particular interest in the history of computing... The work done at Bletchley Park during WWII was invaluable to the Allied war effort and based on extraordinary intellectual feats. They must have had great stories to tell in the museum. Pretty lake too.
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