Bletchley Park

English Heritage has published the results of an important investigation into the national and international  significance of the Bletchley Park site. The report, which builds on the pioneering work of the Bletchley Park Trust, its volunteers and historians,  represents the first ever attempt to assess the value of the site as a whole, the surviving fabric of the buildings there and the contribution it has made to British and world history. Key stakeholders, including the Bletchley Park Trust, Milton Keynes Council, English Heritage and English Partnerships - are working together to find a future which can respect its historical legacy and let Bletchley Park contribute to the much needed regeneration of the town in which it sits.  English Heritage is now calling on local people to contribute to this understanding by reading the report and to email in their comments on how the site should be protected and interpreted for future generations. The report, along with the comments and opinion we hope to gather from local people and experts alike will then be fed into the Masterplan for the area which has been commissioned by English Partnerships.

Andrew Brown, Regional Director Designate for English Heritage, South East Region, explained why the project is vital for the Milton Keynes area:

"Bletchley Park is renowned globally for the achievements of its codebreakers in the Second World War and workers here made an enormous contribution in a whole range of spheres from mathematics to computing.

"It is our job, along with our partners in English Partnerships, Milton Keynes Council and the Bletchley Park Trust, to  make sure that this site is properly protected and interpreted for future generations. What we are aiming to do with this report is take a much more rounded view of the significance of the site as whole and how it can contribute to the wider regeneration and social well being of the area."

John Best, Chief Executive of Milton Keynes Council, added:

"Bletchley Park is probably the most important component of Bletchley`s regeneration, and it's vital we get it right.  English Heritage's recent work shows just how and where Bletchley Park's unique heritage is important.  With local partners we can now move forward to work up a viable and exciting scheme that reflects the Park's character, to get Bletchley regeneration going.  The world is watching."

Following months of research and survey work at the Park, English Heritage are now asking the people of Bletchley and Milton Keynes to comment on the research - to check that their work includes local knowledge of the important events and activities of this once secret site.  The views of international academics and former code-breakers are also being checked. Contributing to the consultation process on this report is an opportunity for local people to give direct input into how their local heritage can both be preserved for the future, and how it can support the economic development of the area. Today Bletchley Park is situated midway between the Oxford-Cambridge technology arc, and the site has the potential to build on its rich past to inspire current and future generations to innovate and create new technologies. All the key players wish to ensure that in the future the site plays as an important a part in history as has it already has in the past. English Heritage looks forward to working with Bletchley Park Trust on identifying the truly important elements of this complex site so that much-needed clarity can be brought to bear at this crucial time.

A dedicated e-mail address bletchleypark@english-heritage.org.uk has been set up for the receipt of comments on the paper. The deadline for comments is Monday 16 August. We aim to issue a further press release with the results of this consultation after that date.

Bletchley Park

Bletchley Park is globally renowned for the achievements of its code-breakers, and for their contribution to the outcome of the Second World War, the development of the modern computer and modern Signals Intelligence, and associated achievements in a whole range of subjects from mathematics to linguistics.  At its peak of growth in the final months of the Second World War, Bletchley Park was home to nearly 10,000 people.

Today, the site operates as a successful visitor attraction, but also has a wide network of academic ties and 'virtual links' to those passionate about the legacy of the work at the Park - but also new generations who are learning about its intellectual and technological heritage.

It is its physical heritage - the buildings and landscape of Bletchley Park - where the difficulties of bringing forward a sustainable future have lain.  Apart from the central area based around the Victorian Mansion, much of the rest of the site (the size of a large village) remains empty and the buildings are decaying.

From an initial understanding of the historical potential, Bletchley Park was designated as a Conservation Area in February 1992. The main house and the stable yard buildings are listed at grade II, but in 1993 the wartime structures due to limited knowledge were not selected for listing and in 1999 the site was not included by DCMS on the shortlist for UNESCO UK world heritage sites. All these decisions reflected uncertainty concerning the degree to which the landscape and surviving buildings at Bletchley Park provided a tangible reflection of its role and contribution to the outcome of the Second World War and the birth of the Information Age.

Furthermore, the lack of an informed understanding of the character of the site, embedded into some uncoordinated decisions being made about the future of parts of the site, and its importance as a regeneration 'driver' for the adjacent town of Bletchley, have also in the past presented obstacles to securing an agreed approach by the site's many stakeholders to sustainable development proposals and funding options.

But now the site has the potential for a great future - which builds on the past.  Recent initiatives around the Government's plans for growth in the Milton Keynes area have stimulated a climate of change.  Bletchley Park sits at the midpoint of the Oxford-Cambridge Technology Arc, and is now home to the Milton Keynes Enterprise Hub, sponsored by SEEDA the regional development agency.  Together with the Bletchley Park Trust and other local stakeholders, they see the potential to build on the rich past of the site to inspire current and future generations to innovate and bring forward new technologies and innovations.

Added to this, the recent Central Bletchley Regeneration Strategy, which has been consulted on locally, highlights the need to ensure that the Park can contribute to the economic and social well-being of Bletchley and Milton Keynes more widely.  Central Bletchley is one of a number of Sustainable Communities Plan projects being sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and led locally by English Partnerships (the Government's regeneration agency for England) and Milton Keynes Council.

The potential of the initiatives and the challenge of bringing large areas of the site back to viable and sustainable uses are being brought together through a Masterplan, commissioned by English Partnerships.  The Masterplan, being prepared by urban design, planning and economic development consultants EDAW, will examine options for a diversity of development scenarios for the future of the Park.  The Masterplan will focus on creating a balance between preserving and enhancing the historic fabric and 'essence' of the Park, and ensuring that opportunities to maximise the economic and social benefits for the surrounding area are fully realised. 

Building on the Park's international significance and the unique parkland setting, the Masterplan will identify opportunities to create a new mixed use community in the Park that will offer new living, learning and working opportunities that will help drive the wider regeneration of Bletchley.

Importantly, the Masterplan is benefiting from considerable research by English Heritage so that it is now possible to understand more fully how the historical significance is reflected in the surviving buildings and landscape at Bletchley Park. The Masterplan will be accompanied by a Conservation Management Plan to provide guidance as to how this fabric might be protected and interpreted for the benefit of future generations. 

To bring together all of the documentary and survey work, a 'Values Paper' has been written by English Heritage - setting their work within its broader historical context.

 The National and International Value of Bletchley Park
A Platform for discussion and its future. - 2July 2005, Values Paper (156kb)

The Values Paper aims to inform the key stages of the Masterplan process through providing a basis for:

• getting an agreed understanding of the overall cultural, context and historic character of the Bletchley Park site as a whole;
• informing consideration of what is special and important at the Park - and how the surviving buildings and landscape contribute;
• ensuring that the cultural and historic value of the site is thus fully appreciated and understood

Each of these elements need to be properly understood prior to the consideration of the capacity for change of individual buildings, their condition and their viability for reuse.  This work is also informing a review of the potential for further statutory protection.

Image immediate left - Plan of Bletchley Park showing surviving and some demolished fabric, and their association with the key themes of Signals Intelligence, Communications and Information Technology. Copyright: English Heritage. Please click here for larger version as a PDF (192kb). Images right English Heritage has conducted a full architectural investigation of the fabric at Bletchley Park, relating it to documentary sources and oral testimonies. This series of plans on the left shows Block D, which has retained much of its wartime character and plan intact. By relating the surviving fabric to documentary sources it has been possible to demonstrate that Block D, for example, has retained much of its wartime character and plan intact. Copyright: English Heritage.  Please click on each image to download larger PDF version (c 150k) Image -Top of the page - Aerial view of Bletchley Park. The late Victorian mansion is shown at the top. The wartime huts, including the famous huts built for the decryption and evaluation of Enigma, are located close to the late Victorian mansion. Clear from this photograph is the extent of the post-1942 building phase, with its flat-roofed blocks, and the parkland setting. Field work has established the boundary to the medieval deer park, and that the present lake close to the mansion originated as a fish pond in this period,   the location of the 18th century house and the development of the early 18th formal century gardens and their remodelling with the landscaping for the Seckhams and Leons from the 1870s. (Photographer Damian Grady, Copyright: English Heritage)