Bletchley Park future under colossal threat

UK's top scientists issue stark warning

The survival of Bletchley Park, the secret home to Britain's codebreakers during World War II, is under serious threat from the "ravages of age and a lack of investment" unless the government steps in to provide vital funds.

That is the stark warning from almost 100 leading academics and computer scientists in a public letter in The Times.

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Bletchley Park is famous for the decrypting messages enciphered by the Nazi Enigma machines - depicted in the Hollywood movie of the same name - and also for the world's first codebreaking supercomputer Colossus, which cracked the codes used to encipher messages between Hitler's high command. Take a look at silicon.com's exclusive behind-the-scenes photo tour of Colossus.

Bletchley Park was declared a conservation area in 1992 by Milton Keynes Borough Council and is now run by the Bletchley Park Trust - a charity that receives no external funding.

The Trust was recently forced to resort to selling off broken roof slates from the historic house to souvenir hunters in an attempt to raise funds.

In the public letter the scientists warn: "Although there has recently been some progress in generating income, without fundamental support Bletchley Park is still under threat, this time from the ravages of age and a lack of investment. Many of the huts where the codebreaking occurred are in a terrible state of disrepair. As a nation, we cannot allow this crucial and unique piece of both British and world heritage to be neglected in this way."

The letter calls for secure long-term financial backing on a par with other museums such as the Imperial War Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum.

Among the scientists to put their name to the letter are professor Bill Roscoe, director of Oxford University's computing laboratory, professor Jean Bacon at the University of Cambridge computer laboratory and professor Ian Sommerville, professor of software engineering, University of St Andrews.