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The Bletchley Park mansion was originally the home of the financier and Liberal MP, Sir Herbert Samuel Leon Link . In 1938, the mansion and 58 acres of the estate were bought by Admiral Sir Hugh Sinclair, head of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6), for use by the secret services in the event of war.

During World War II, Bletchley Park was used by the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), a secret team of individuals including a number of scholars turned Codebreakers, and it became the centre of the Britain’s decryption efforts. The GC&CS mission was to crack the Nazi codes and ciphers. The most famous of the cipher systems to be broken at Bletchley Park was the Enigma but there were also a large number of lower-level German systems to break as well as the military codes and ciphers that secured Italian, Japanese, and other Axis nation’s communications.

In January 1945, at the peak of codebreaking efforts, some 9,000 personnel were working at Bletchley; over 12,000 different people (some 80% of them women, primarily seconded from Britain's armed forces and Civil Service) were assigned there at various points throughout the war. To accommodate the staff, a number of extra buildings were erected on the site; some were wooden huts, others were brick-built.

Bletchley Park rejoices in the fact that, until fairly recently, it was probably Britain’s best kept secret. This is because the secrecy surrounding all the activities carried on here during World War Two was of vital importance to our national security and ultimate victory. After the War, the secrecy imposed on Bletchley staff remained in force, so that most relatives never knew more than that a child, spouse, or parent had done some kind of secret war work. Public discussion of Bletchley's work finally became possible in the late 1970s and in July 2009 the British government announced that Bletchley personnel would be recognised with a commemorative badge.

After the war, GC&CS became the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and left Bletchley in 1946. The site saw a number of uses, including as a teacher-training college and local GPO headquarters but by 1991 it was nearly empty and the buildings were at risk of demolition for redevelopment. In February 1992, the Milton Keynes Borough Council declared most of the Park a conservation area, and the Bletchley Park Trust was formed to maintain the site as a museum. The site opened to visitors in 1993 and Bletchley Park is now a flourishing heritage attraction. Open seven days a week, it is popular with individuals and families, as well as school groups and tour parties (Link Bletchley Park Trust).

Created: Sat, 10 Sep 2016, Updated: Thu, 4 Oct 2018