Bletchley Park Facing Financial Ruin

biscuitfever11 writes "Bletchley Park, the home of Station X, Britain's secret code-breaking base during World War II, is barely scraping by financially, as shown in these images compiled by ZDNet this week. The site has undergone major redevelopment as an act of remembrance for the Allied efforts to break the German Enigma code, but now its future is clouded — among others, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation turned them down for financial assistance (since it doesn't have to do with the Internet). Its director estimates that Bletchley Park's funds will be exhausted in three years. Hungry land developers are circling. This is an insightful look at what's happened to Bletchley Park these days and the pain it's going through."

Comments

Upstairs boarder

[BadAnalogyGuy]

When I's a kid growing up in Kansas, we used t' rent out the upper room to boarders at a reasonable price. This helpt us git our bills paid and gave us poor farmers some company on those long summer nights. Twasn't like we were usin' the upstairs room.

Except for hubris, I don't see the real benefit in holding on to all that real estate if all they are going to do is slowly bleed to death. If they put the land to work for them, by renting it out as office space, they could probably make enough to keep a smaller museum running.

But what do I know about those English? All I know is that when I go into the bathroom, I'm American. When I come out, I'm American again.

Re:The real problem

[apodyopsis]

we wantonly ignore our history because we actually have lots and lots of it, mate.

when you are tripping over history with every other step you take then you'll get pretty relaxed about it as well.

having said that, it make me weep when a properly constructed 150+ year old house get ripped down for a cramped development of flats made from bricks, spit and twigs. it is precisely because of the sheer amount of historical relevance and interest that naturally some things get sacrificed, and once its gone then its gone for ever.

face it, as a attraction Bletchley has to compete with central london only 25 miles away - and when you put it like that it will always lose.

Re:Why would they expect Gates Foundation funding?

[interstellar_donkey]

Yeah. My initial question here was "Why doesn't the government step in?" What, does England have so much history that it doesn't see the value of protecting a historic site that's from something as new as the last century?

Here in the states, we've got the NSA cryptologic museum, where among other things you can tool around on an old Enigma from WWII. Can't imagine why Britain wouldn't want something like it.

Re:Why would they expect Gates Foundation funding?

[caluml]

What, does England have so much history that it doesn't see the value of protecting a historic site that's from something as new as the last century? We do have an awful lot of history. Near where I grew up is a 13th century castle, and a little further a copy of the Magna Carta from 1215. The town itself was founded in 888. Yes, without a 1 in front. Throw in lots of roman stuff, and things I've never even been told of, and yeah, something from 1945 might not be thought to be really that *wow*.

Re:Why would they expect Gates Foundation funding?

[meringuoid]

What, does England have so much history that it doesn't see the value of protecting a historic site that's from something as new as the last century?

Yep, that's pretty much it. There's only so much funding to go around, and there are thousands and thousands of sites of historical interest competing for it. Bletchley isn't really such a strong competitor; the site itself is of no architectural interest, it's nothing to look at. All it ever was was a bunch of army huts. There are ancient castles and manors falling down which are much more photogenic and attract more tourists.

To me Bletchley is of more intellectual than historic interest: it's where Turing did his work founding the discipline of computer science. As such, I wonder if the best way forward would be for the site to become a technology park, or a research centre attached perhaps to the OU? That would preserve what was important there - the intellectual tradition - even if it meant doing away with most of the WW2-era buildings.

Re:Why would they expect Gates Foundation funding?

[cliffski]

have you ever BEEN there?
I have, about 2 years ago. And it's fantastic. You might thinkt hats long as someone took a few photos of it, we can bulldoze it and build luxury flats there. But i disagree.
I normally HATE guided tours of places, but the tour of bletchley is fantastic, given by genuine experts, some of whom worked there, and who have a very deep understanding of technically how the cods were broken. the museum there is awesome, and the re-created machines that you can go and look at are truly astounding. This is literally the birthplace of computing. And you would happily let it disappear?
Here is some pics I took of some of the rebuilt machines, with the guy who did the rebuilding pictured:

http://www.positech.co.uk/blog/enigma1.jpg
http://www.positech.co.uk/blog/enigma2.jpg
http://www.positech.co.uk/blog/enigma3.jpg

BP is well worth saving. Much more so than just ANOTHER stately home, of which we preserve hundreds.