Bletchley Park, the birthplace of modern crypto and the home of the WWII codebreaking effort, has received a £4.6m Heritage Lottery Fund grant to fund restoration efforts and new exhibits. Bletchley was broken up after the war and its work was literally buried as part of the Cold War climate of secrecy that prevailed. In the years that followed, neglect and time led to the near-destruction of many of the historic sites. The Bletchley Park trust has since done amazing work on a shoestring budget to restore and preserve Bletchley, creating a fabulous museum and rebuilding some of the most beautiful electromechanical computers I've ever seen.
But there was only so much the Trust could do with no money. This grant is sorely needed, and this news fills me with delight.
Ironically, the money to restore Bletchley has come from the lottery, a government-run system designed to reinforce and exploit statistical innumeracy of the sort that Bletchley's cryptographers overcame in order to help win the war.
The investment will enable the restoration of key codebreaking huts and create a world-class visitor centre at the Buckinghamshire site.
The HLF said new exhibitions and interactive displays will bring Bletchley's story to life…
A spokesman for the Bletchley Park Trust said: "The ambition of the Bletchley Park Trust is to complete the restoration of the site, and to tell its story to the highest modern standards."
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