Bletchley Park

(the home of the Enigma machine)

On the weekend we went to Bletchley Park (http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/content/museum1.rhtm).  This is the site of secret British code breaking activities during WWII and birthplace of the modern computer.

The site was run mainly by women during the war (approx 8,000 people on a 55 acre estate).  This was top secret and even the locals didn't realise the number of people nor the work that was being done.
  

This is one of the famous enigma machines.  I didn't realise that there was a whole series of machines - one type per force i.e. one for the army and a different one used by the navy.

Before World War II, Polish crypto-analysts had already designed an electro-mechanical machine to test Enigma rotor settings called a ‘Bomba’ (recreated one here).

The Colossus (reconstructed here) was the the world’s first practical electronic digital information processing machine - a forerunner of today’s computers.

There were several statues around the estate which were all made of layered slate.  They were very detailed and quite amazing.

The site had so many collections (from computers to toys and domestic items such as reconstructed 1920's kitchen with clothing, etc) it was amazing.

We took this pic as Jim is a fan of motor bikes.