History
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire was Britain's main decryption establishment during World War Two. Ciphers and codes of several Axis countries were decrypted including, most importantly, those generated by the German Enigma and Lorenz machines.
Photo: Wrens (members of the Women's Royal Naval Service) at Bletchley with Colossus, the world's first electronic programmable computer, in 1942. (SSPL/Getty Images)
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Code breaking
Introduction
Bletchley Park
Highlights from BBC programmes Video (6)
play
How an Enigma machine works
Peter Westcombe, founder of the Bletchley Park Trust, explains in detail how the Enigma machine works and how its codes were broken by the code-breakers at Bletchley Park.
Peter Westcombe, founder of the Bletchley Park Trust, explains in detail how the Enigma machine works and how its codes were broken by the code-breakers at Bletchley Park.
play
Why Bletchley Park was the base for WW2 code breaking
Peter Westcombe, founder of the Bletchley Park Trust, explains why MI5 chose Bletchley Park to be the hub of Britain's code-breaking community.
Peter Westcombe, founder of the Bletchley Park Trust, explains why MI5 chose Bletchley Park to be the hub of Britain's code-breaking community.
play
Fiona Bruce talks to a Bletchley Park code breaker
Fiona Bruce talks to Jean Valentine, a Wren who worked as a code-breaker at Bletchley Park during the war.
Fiona Bruce talks to Jean Valentine, a Wren who worked as a code-breaker at Bletchley Park during the war.
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The code breaking that changed the war
Simon Greenish, director of Bletchley Park, describes the role that the Bletchley Park code-breakers played in changing the course of the war.
Simon Greenish, director of Bletchley Park, describes the role that the Bletchley Park code-breakers played in changing the course of the war.
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The world's first computer
Fiona Bruce describes how volunteers have reconstructed the code-breaking Colossus computer at Bletchley Park.
Fiona Bruce describes how volunteers have reconstructed the code-breaking Colossus computer at Bletchley Park.
More information about: Bletchley Park
Coordinates: 51°59′47″N 0°44′34″W / 51.99651°N 0.74276°W / 51.99651; -0.74276
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Codes Centre and the National Museum of Computing. During World War II, Bletchley Park was the site of the United Kingdom's main decryption establishment, the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), where ciphers and codes of several Axis countries were decrypted, most importantly the ciphers generated by the German Enigma and Lorenz machines. It also housed Station X, a secret radio intercept station.
The high-level intelligence produced at Bletchley Park, codenamed Ultra, provided crucial assistance to the Allied war effort. Sir Harry Hinsley, a Bletchley veteran and the official historian of British Intelligence in World War II, said that Ultra shortened the war by two to four years and that the outcome of the war would have been uncertain without it.
A large portion of the site is now controlled by the Bletchley Park Trust. The National Museum of Computing, an independent voluntary organisation, rents space from the Trust to house its collection of historic computers. The museum is run by the Codes and Ciphers Heritage Trust (an independent registered charity) and is open to the public. It receives no Government or regional funding, or any of the Trust’s visitor or facility rental fees. The Bletchley Park Science and Innovation Centre (BPSIC) refurbished some of the historic structures and occupies part of the former code-breaker buildings. The site also houses the National Codes Centre. The main manor house is available for functions and is licensed for ceremonies. Part of the fees for hiring the facilities go to the Trust to maintain the site. Since 1967, Bletchley has been part of Milton Keynes.
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Rebuilding the codebreaking computer Colossus at Bletchley Park
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