English Heritage throws lifeline to Bletchley Park

Bletchley Park, home to the UK’s code-breaking efforts during the Second World War, has received a huge financial boost to its restoration campaign.

English Heritage has donated £330,000 to the Bletchley Park Trust so it can complete the urgent repairs underway on the mansion house roof.

The non-departmental public body of the Government will also make a further £300,000 available to the estate for further restoration work on the wooden huts where the code-breakers worked and estate infrastructure over the next three years; providing the trust can raise matching funding from other sources.

Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, said Bletchley Park was a rare exception to its funding rules.

"It is rare for us to give funds to buildings that are not of extreme architectural and aesthetic importance; and you could hardly say the mansion house is any of these. But it is of extreme historic importance," he said.

Simon Greenish, director of the Bletchley Park Trust, said it was a “momentous event” for the historic site, which was nearly bulldozed 16 years ago to make way for a Tesco supermarket.

“Bletchley mansion was the hub of the code-breaking effort; it played an integral part and was of critical importance in the effort that helped end the war and save thousands of lives. This money enables the critical work on the roof, which is very complicated, to be completed and we would like to convey our thanks to English Heritage,” he said.

However, Mr Greenish stressed that the funds were only “the start of the journey” that would enable the trust to transform Bletchley Park into a world-class heritage and education centre.

The estate is home to two important museums – the Second World War exhibits and the National Museum of Computing (NMC).

The Second World War museum exhibits include Enigma machines and the rebuilt Colossus — the world’s first electronic computer. The NMC, which is run by the Codes and Ciphers Heritage Trust, restores and exhibits computers primarily built in Britain.

The NMC recently received funds from computer giant IBM and data encryption software company PGP. Mr Greenish said the ultimate goal was to merge the running of the two museums.

However, repairs and upgrades to the estate's infrastructure, including the electrical systems, water supplies and roads need to be carried out.

Mr Greenish said the additional funds from English Heritage will help fund this. Some of this money may also be used to make urgent repairs to the historic wartime huts, where the teams using the Enigma machine for code-breaking and analysis worked.

However, he said he was hopeful that the trust may be able to get funds from the Heritage Lottery Fund as well that could also be put forward for these repairs.

“We are very encouraged by the fact the Heritage Lottery Fund is so supportive and it said it was looking forward to our application,” he said.