The Manor at Bletchley Park today. Photo. Let's discover the past together 2025.
Knowing where to start on a blog is probably the first obstacle once you have decided to begin your writing journey. I knew I wanted to focus this blog on history. History is a topic I am so passionate about, however history is so vast that it soon became overwhelming.
Then I took my kids to Bletchley Park, it's somewhere we have visited many, many times and it is constantly evolving and expanding. Bletchley Park is an amazing place to visit and is full of history. So I thought that the history of Bletchley Park was a great place to start. I have decided that Bletchley Park has such a facinating and important history that I could only truely do it justice by making it into a series. Starting at the very beginning with the domesday book travelling through yo the wars and then finishing up with how the park has now become a museum. So I do really hope that this is as exciting for you as it is for me, and that you all join in on the journey. I can't wait to learn from all of you.
Location.
Bletchley Park is in Bletchley, a town in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, approximately fifty miles north of London. The towns name is Anglo-Saxon in origin. It means Blaeccas clearing. The name evolved in the 12th century to Bicchelai, then in the 13th century to Blechelegh and Blecheley in 14th-16th centuries. Bletchley was a small village until the Victorian expansion of the railways which lead to the increase in businesses particularly for the brick industry which was vibrant in the area, particularly in Stewartby. The brick industry thrived in the area due to the abundance of Oxford clay. Sadly, Bletchley brickworks closed in 1990.
The Domesday Book.
Bletchley Park is most famous for its code-breaking during the second world war. Alan Turing and the bombe possibly being its most famous connection. However it has a hugely vibrant history dating back to domesday.
Although at the time of being recorded in the domedays book it wasn't called Bletchley Park. It didn't start to be called Bletchley Park until much later in 1877 by Samuel Lipscomb Seckham (more about him later).
In 1066 and 1068 the site was recorded as part of the [water] Eaton estate was recorded as being made up of 53 households consisting of 35 villagers, 6 smallholders and 12 slaves. It was part of the Seckley hundred. Hundred in this case referred to an administrative sub-division of the area, similar to a borough in London today. The county was recorded as Buckinghamshire the same as it today. The Lord of the estate in 1066 was Edeva (wife of Wulfward White). Wulfward White was an English nobleman and landowner. Both Edeva and Wulford held properties given by Queen Edith of Wessex. Queen Edith was married to Edward the Confessor, Edward the Confessor was an Anglo-Saxon King who was also sainted, he died in January 1066.Then in 1068 The Lord and tenant-in- chief was Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances, a French/Norman nobleman who was a trusted advisor to William the Conqueror. He was a very influential person and was at the Battle of Hastings and was at the coronation of William the Conqueror. He was also involved in the suppression of any English rebellions. He was obviously close to the King and therefore close to power. It is not clear if this land was seized from the English Edeva and betrothed to the Norman BIshop Geoffrey of Coutances but I think we can take a well educated guess that it most likely was.
Two great sites that gives information regarding the domesday book are linked below.
Browne Willis
Image of Browne Willis.There is little information regarding the area until 1711 when a mansion was built by Browne Willis(16th September 1682-5th February 1760). Browne Willis was an historian, author, coin collector and a Conservative member of parliament for Buckinghamshire. He also had the church of St Martins built in nearby Fenny Stratford, as a memorial to his Grandfather and well renowned doctor.
St. Martins Church. Fenny Stratford.
This is the link for more information regarding St Martins Church.
There is more information about Brown Willis on the links below. Well worth a read if you are interested to learn more about Brown Willis. However I am doing my best not to be diverted away from the topic at hand. I do have a tendency to follow information away from my original subject.
Image of Thomas Harrison.
Sadly, the mansion was demolished by Thomas Harrison (1734-1809) from Wolverton who purchased it 1793. The estate was then used as farmland. Thomas Harrison was noted as building Wolverton House in the 1780s. In 1809 Thomas died and in 1858 his last surviving son also died. Some of the estate was auctioned in June 1865 by Spencer Harrison, Thomas's grandson.
Spencer decided to keep the main part of the estate. Including what is now Bletchley Park until 1871 when he failed to sell it at auction.
For a more indepth delve into Thomas Harrison please visit the site below.
Samuel Lipscomb Seckham.
However it was finally sold in 1877 to a Mr Coleman and then almost immediately to Samuel Lipscomb Seckham(25th October 1827- 4th February 1901). Samuel Lipscomb Seckham was an architect, developer ans brewer from Oxford. He was already a very experienced due to his prominent work in Oxford. Seckham developed the Park Town Estate in North Oxford, which was one of the earliest planned suburban developments in the Oxford area. The Park Town estate was a crescent of beautiful terraced houses with bath stone fronts that gives them the elegant honey colour that bath stone is so famous for.
Seckham built a house on the 581 acres of land of Bletchley Park. It was during this time that it became known as Bletchley Park and in 1883 sold it to Sir Herbert Samuel Leon.
Overview.
The park has changed hands frequently compared to many other estates in England that tended to stay within one family over many generations. Although, would Bletchley Park become a place of such significance had it not, who knows.
In the past the houses built here have been unwanted and demolished, the land used for agricultural and it did, I am sure, serve the tenant farmers and there families, that called this place home for many years.Who could have forseen the gratitude so many would have for this site and the people that worked here.
I hope you found this interesting and feel free to add any information that you would like to share. I would love to learn more.
This blog has some wonderful information regarding the area of Wolverton, close to Bletchley.
There are some wonderful photos displayed in the mansion at Bletchley of the Leon family enjoying the mansion prior to it most famous use in the second world war.
Herbert Samuel Leon was a financier and MP. My next blog will be all about the Leon family.
I used the following sites to help with my research on this subject. I would like to thank all the contributors for the fascinating information they have shared in order for me to be able to gather this information and correlate the information I was looking for and I learned a great deal about Bletchley and Bletchley Park.
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