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Bletchley Park Science and Innovation Centre Bletchley Park Science and Innovation Centre's (BPSIC) aim is to foster the
growth and development of dynamic knowledge-based businesses at Bletchley Park.
The Centre is housed in 3,900 square metres (42,000 square feet) of what was once the World War II Naval Intelligence Accommodation. Now fully modernised, BPSIC offers units of various sizes from 11 square metres (120 square feet) up to 360 square metres (3,870 square feet) for a whole range of office, studio, laboratory, technical, assembly, or light manufacturing purposes. BPSIC offers start-ups all the facilities and assistance they need to prosper. Bletchley Park lies at the centre of the important Oxford-Cambridge Arc and is located next to Milton Keynes. It is 5 minutes walk to Bletchley railway station (London Euston 50 minutes away) and close to the region's major roads network, providing excellent transport links to London, Birmingham, and east-west across the country. BPSIC's success is helping to preserve the historic Bletchley Park for future generations |
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Bletchley Park History Bletchley Park lies 50 miles (80km) north-west of London. In 1883, it became home to the Leon family when Herbert Leon, a wealthy city of London financier, bought over 300 acres of land beside the London and North-Western Railway line, developing 60 of those acres into his country estate. At the heart of the estate, he built a mansion in a curious mixture of architectural styles acquired from his world travels. Despite the many developments that have occurred in the Park since then, The Mansion and its landscaped gardens with its lake and many mature trees remain the focal point of the site today. In 1938 the Park fell into the hands of the British Government who established it as the home for The Government Code and Cypher School giving it the cover name Station X. During the second World War the team of cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park succeeded in breaking a number of enemy codes including the bewilderingly complex Enigma cypher (hitherto thought to be unbreakable), the backbone of German military and intelligence communications. The work was underpinned by the pioneering development of several computational aids including Colossus, the World’s first programmable computer and the Bombe, an electro-mechanical machine that greatly reduced the time taken to crack the daily-changing Enigma keys. As a consequence of these achievements Bletchley Park is attributed with simultaneously shortening the War and heralding the dawn of the age of the computer. |
Following the end of the War in 1945 all traces of The Park’s activities were destroyed to prevent them falling into the hands of the then enemy, Britain’s former ally: the USSR. The thousands who had worked here departed and the site subsequently became home to a variety of training schools: for teachers, Post Office workers, air traffic control system engineers, and members of GCHQ. In 1987, after a fifty-year association with British Intelligence, Bletchley Park was finally decommissioned.
Bletchley Park Trust was formed in February 1992 with the aim of preserving the site and bringing Bletchley Park’s wartime exploits to the attention of a wider audience. This group first opened the site to visitors in 1993 and, with the help of many volunteers and enthusiasts, maintained a collection of independent and Trust exhibitions for the general public to enjoy. The Museum was officially opened in July 1994.
For further information on heritage activities, please visit the Bletchley Park Heritage Website at www.bletchleypark.org.