History
We all know about the codebreakers and the huge part that Bletchley park played in the war, but post war this site was filled with large modern buildings with central heating. As a result of this there was large competition from companies, two of the largest occupants in the post-war period were the General Post Office (GPO), later British Telecom, and a Teacher Training College. The latter, established as an Emergency College in the late 1940s, remained on site as a permanent College until the mid 1970s; for most of this time occupying Blocks A, B and E. The GPO/BT was the largest occupant of the site, using Blocks G, F and H as a regional training school from the 1940s until 1993. The Teacher Training College, by contrast constructed little, but shaped the character of the central area of the site to a certain extent. The College carried out minor external alterations to Blocks A, B and E, demolished Hut 7 and more radically altered the wartime Teleprinter Building, converting it into an Assembly Hall during the 1950s. It created the garden behind Block B, where Hut 7 had stood and constructed a series of unpretentious classrooms around the periphery of this area. all in all the structures on this site demonstrate the mix of uses that the site was put to after the war and acting as a reminder that the Park was a highly sought after location between 1946 and 1993 for both business and education.
The explore
After a lot of head scratching to find some 'new' local explores, Bletchley Park rang a bell somewhere in the depths of my unconscious. Having had a stroll around the barracks (now housing) some years ago, i never had much of an inclination to return. However, after defeating my Bletchley blues, i was pleasantly surprised with this one.
Explored in the excellent company of Southside Assassin.
G Block
1.
2.
3.
4. Central heating was installed after the war to encourage businesses to locate to Bletchley Park. This may have been one of those Friday afternoon jobs with the radiator ending up half way up the wall
.
5. BT workstations, under a hood of intense lighting.
6.
7. A table marked with Wisdom teeth and a letter about staff salary from the GPO.
D Block
8. Apart from storage, D Block has not been used since the war - clarification needed please.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14. The equipment to the left is a highly successful machine made by Wayne Kerr
.
15.
16. Bletchley Park is also home to the National Museum of Computing and a good number of examples have been saved. It is easy to forget equipment like this and a floppy disc that could hold only a tiny amount of data compared with a CD of today. Makes me feel humble how far we have come.
17. There was a fear during the 1980's computer revolution that computers would take over the world. With the size of these beauties, that was a very real possibility!
18. A projector room, with ready made openings through the painted window.
19.
We also ventured up Wilton Avenue to explore the buildings (previously used as a canteen/college) at the side entrance to Bletchley Park, but found nothing worthy to point a camera at and with that is was time for a liquid lunch in Bletchley's finest establishments.
Thanks for looking
We all know about the codebreakers and the huge part that Bletchley park played in the war, but post war this site was filled with large modern buildings with central heating. As a result of this there was large competition from companies, two of the largest occupants in the post-war period were the General Post Office (GPO), later British Telecom, and a Teacher Training College. The latter, established as an Emergency College in the late 1940s, remained on site as a permanent College until the mid 1970s; for most of this time occupying Blocks A, B and E. The GPO/BT was the largest occupant of the site, using Blocks G, F and H as a regional training school from the 1940s until 1993. The Teacher Training College, by contrast constructed little, but shaped the character of the central area of the site to a certain extent. The College carried out minor external alterations to Blocks A, B and E, demolished Hut 7 and more radically altered the wartime Teleprinter Building, converting it into an Assembly Hall during the 1950s. It created the garden behind Block B, where Hut 7 had stood and constructed a series of unpretentious classrooms around the periphery of this area. all in all the structures on this site demonstrate the mix of uses that the site was put to after the war and acting as a reminder that the Park was a highly sought after location between 1946 and 1993 for both business and education.
The explore
After a lot of head scratching to find some 'new' local explores, Bletchley Park rang a bell somewhere in the depths of my unconscious. Having had a stroll around the barracks (now housing) some years ago, i never had much of an inclination to return. However, after defeating my Bletchley blues, i was pleasantly surprised with this one.
Explored in the excellent company of Southside Assassin.
G Block
1.
2.
3.
4. Central heating was installed after the war to encourage businesses to locate to Bletchley Park. This may have been one of those Friday afternoon jobs with the radiator ending up half way up the wall
.
5. BT workstations, under a hood of intense lighting.
6.
7. A table marked with Wisdom teeth and a letter about staff salary from the GPO.
D Block
8. Apart from storage, D Block has not been used since the war - clarification needed please.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14. The equipment to the left is a highly successful machine made by Wayne Kerr
.
15.
16. Bletchley Park is also home to the National Museum of Computing and a good number of examples have been saved. It is easy to forget equipment like this and a floppy disc that could hold only a tiny amount of data compared with a CD of today. Makes me feel humble how far we have come.
17. There was a fear during the 1980's computer revolution that computers would take over the world. With the size of these beauties, that was a very real possibility!
18. A projector room, with ready made openings through the painted window.
19.
We also ventured up Wilton Avenue to explore the buildings (previously used as a canteen/college) at the side entrance to Bletchley Park, but found nothing worthy to point a camera at and with that is was time for a liquid lunch in Bletchley's finest establishments.
Thanks for looking
