Computing Trip to Bletchley Park
On the 27th of June 2025, Year 10 had the pleasure of visiting Bletchley Park on a Computer Science Trip, a day packed with activities that encompassed our algorithmic thinking skills, knowledge of encryption and even cryptography. When we arrived, we were met with an expert tour guide who took us over to the Bletchley Mansion and quizzed us with questions about our prior knowledge of codebreaking and enlightened us with some fascinating information. After this, we were taken over to the entrance of two garages, these were full of different types of vintage vehicles. At first sight, it didn’t look that special. I couldn’t have been more wrong. This was the very entrance where thousands of motor cyclists called Dispatch Riders would bring in valuable intelligence from covert drives during the war. They played a crucial role by delivering encrypted messages to and from Bletchley Park from stations called ‘Y stations’ to the experienced team of expert codebreakers.
After the Dispatch Riders, we visited inside the mansion, which was the very centre of attention as many gathered around the rooms which contained original radios, differing papers packed with code and all organised scrupulously into grids, which made codebreaking more effective. After this, we had the privilege of viewing ‘The Cottages’ where some of the most prolific Codebreakers such as Dilly Knox, Mavis Lever and even the man regarded as the ‘forefather of modern computer science, Alan Turing’ worked in these buildings. This was the very site where the first codebreaking of Enigma by an exclusive British team took place and produced intelligence showing that the Allies had successfully deceived the Germans in the ‘Double Cross’ operation regarding the location for the D-Day landings.
We also got to visit a mini cinema which displayed the significance of codebreaking in the war effort and how crucial it was to gather intelligence such as the Battle of Cape Matapan, where Italian ciphers were decrypted, informing the Royal Navy of Italian and German ship movements. We then moved onto the tours of the Huts where prominent codebreakers like Gordon Welshman worked to break the Enigma codes. Hut 8 was home to the office of Alan Turing, the founding father of modern computer science. I remember it like it was yesterday, his room had two desks with their own typewriter, a map on the far left of the room and a mini chalkboard hung on the wall, accompanying a black telephone. To this day, I still cannot believe that I stood in the same room where Alan Turing’s brains had conjured up the most ingenious thoughts of the century, solving problems during times of national insurgency, when the welfare of the country depended on him.
Finally, we received an excellent lecture presented to us by the staff at Bletchley Park on encryption codes and cryptography as well as an insight into the field of Quantum Computing.
The Bletchley Park Trip was an enjoyable experience based around the many wonders Computer Science can perform, I am very grateful and lucky to have been able to partake in this trip as it deepened my understanding of the fundamental concepts such as encryption and made me appreciate the applications of computer science in British history.
Sarujan Kasinthan, 10G
