Report - - Bletchley Park - Buckinghamshire, May 2016

[Kal-El]

Having all my life grown up in this neck of the woods and newly arriving to urban exploration I couldn't of gone on my first proper urbex with a better person. Toby you are scholar and a pleasure to be around.

So it all began with a journey to Wolverton Works a place I have admired and wanted to visit since I was kid; the place is that old and abandoned that I'm now pushing into my early thirties

It didn't disappoint and either did Bletchley Park, anyhow back to Bletchley park and abit of history on the place.

Bletchley Park:
(Directly from source)
Captain Ridley's Shooting Party
The arrival of ‘Captain Ridley's Shooting Party’ at a mansion house in the Buckinghamshire countryside in late August 1938 was to set the scene for one of the most remarkable stories of World War Two. They had an air of friends enjoying a relaxed weekend together at a country house. They even brought with them one of the best chefs at the Savoy Hotel to cook their food. But the small group of people who turned up at Bletchley Park were far from relaxed. They were members of MI6, and the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), a secret team of individuals including a number of scholars turned Codebreakers. Their job; to see whether Bletchley Park would work as a wartime location, well away from London, for intelligence activity by GC&CS as well as elements of MI6.

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. There were also a large number of lower-level German systems to break as well as those of Hitler's allies. At the start of the war in September 1939 the codebreakers returned to Bletchey Park to begin their war-winning work in earnest.

The Story Continues: Breaking Enigma [ Click here }

Heres the place now

I'll be going back and forth over the next few months but for now I hope these pictures suffice, if anyone would like to join me PM me

Photo by Toby

Photo by Toby

Photo by Toby

Photo by Toby

Photo by Toby

Photo by Toby

Photo by Toby

Photo by Toby

Photo by Toby

Toby thanks again for an awesome day and some photo share!

 

[Punk]

Nice first report
What camera are you using and are you using a tripod? Using a tripod and taking a slightly longer exposure will help you light the images better
Bletchley Park is an incredible place and it's a real shame the sorry state it's been left to fall into. The place was filled with legends in it's heyday, some of whom went on to great things. Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman, between them, are responsible for most of the modern technology we enjoy and rely on today. Both big heroes to me, on par with Isambard Kingdom Brunel and William Caxton.

 

[Kal-El]

Nice first report
What camera are you using and are you using a tripod? Using a tripod and taking a slightly longer exposure will help you light the images better
Bletchley Park is an incredible place and it's a real shame the sorry state it's been left to fall into. The place was filled with legends in it's heyday, some of whom went on to great things. Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman, between them, are responsible for most of the modern technology we enjoy and rely on today. Both big heroes to me, on par with Isambard Kingdom Brunel and William Caxton.

Thanks for the kind words, and advice. KM_Punk

Glad you enjoyed the report!

 

[Bolts]

Nice stuff, Bletchley Park is always an interesting place to see purely because of it's history...it's not just a shame but also a surprise to see it crumbling away like this, you'd think people would care more about (what used to be) such an important place.
As KM_Punk said, a tripod is always one of the best things to take with you if you're taking photos - obviously after a camera and a torch!

 

[Kal-El]

Totally get you Bolts; how this part of Bletchley Park was ever allowed to go into disrepute I'll never know this building helped end the war earlier by 3-4 years in cracking the Enigma code and helping us and our allies defeat hitler and the germans.

Bletchley Park and the mansion owners should bow there heads in shame.

 

[Els]

Bletchley Park has been undergoing a massive restoration project for the last couple of years with funds from the Nat. Lot. The huts where Turing did most of his work has been fully restored. A lot of the old exhibits not directly related the Bletchley have been removed (toy museum, Winston Churchill exhibit, film museum and the model rail club) and are being replaced with exhibits more relevant to the site or converted into business/research centers. I'm not sure what the plans are for this bit of the site but I understand the building is mainly used to store old bits from the computer museum, so it's all good.