West Bletchley is
a district and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
that covers the western part of
Bletchley
Bletchley is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated in the south-west of Milton Keynes, and is split between the civil parishes of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford and West Bletchley.
Bletchley is best know ...
, a constituent town of
Milton Keynes in
Buckinghamshire,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
The parish consists of that part of Bletchley which is south of Standing Way/H8 (
A421), west of the
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
, and north of
Water Eaton Brook. (The remainder of Bletchley is combined with Fenny Stratford to form the parish of
Bletchley and Fenny Stratford
Bletchley and Fenny Stratford is a civil parish with a town council, in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It was formed in 2001 from the unparished area of Milton Keynes, and according to the 2011 census had a population of 15,313. Togeth ...
).
Geography
West Bletchley contains three major districts with parish council
wards within them. These wards/
estates include:
Old Bletchley
* Church Green
*
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...
* Poets
Far Bletchley
* Castles
* Fairways
* Racecourses
* Rivers
* Saints
West Bletchley
* Abbys
* Scotts
* Counties
Most districts of West Bletchley parish are residential, but the district of Bletchley Park is important enough to be summarised here.
City Council wards
West Bletchley is split between two electoral wards for representation to
Milton Keynes City Council
Milton Keynes City Council is the local authority of the City of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It has both borough status ...
. Far Bletchley and the golf course area is in the Whaddon Ward (which, despite its name and proximity, does not include the village of
Whaddon in the
Buckinghamshire Council
Buckinghamshire Council is a unitary local authority in England, the area of which constitutes most of the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire. It was created in April 2020 from the areas that were previously administered by Buckinghamshire Cou ...
area); the remainder of the parish is in the
Bletchley and Fenny Stratford ward.
Bletchley Park
Within the West Bletchley parish, in the Church Green district, is
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...
. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, this district was home to the
Government Code and Cypher School
Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Uni ...
. The German
Enigma code was cracked here by, amongst others,
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical co ...
. Another
cipher machine was solved with the aid of early computing devices, known as a
Colossus. Bletchley Park is now a
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
, although many areas of the park grounds have been sold off for housing development.
Education
Primary
Children in the area attend a number of
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
s in the parish, which include: Milton Keynes Preparatory School, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School, Holne Chase Primary School, White Spire School, Rickley Park Primary School and Chestnuts Primary School.
Special school
White Spire School, an all age (5-19) mixed special school for pupils with Moderate Learning Difficulties, is located on Rickley Lane in West Bletchley.
All pupils at the school have a statement outlining their special need and are referred to the school by the Inclusion Division of Milton Keynes Council. As such there is no reserved area with pupils transported to the school from across Milton Keynes and, in some instances, further afield.
Secondary
*
Lord Grey Academy, a
comprehensive school
See also
*
Bletchley and Fenny Stratford
Bletchley and Fenny Stratford is a civil parish with a town council, in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It was formed in 2001 from the unparished area of Milton Keynes, and according to the 2011 census had a population of 15,313. Togeth ...
, the other civil parish for 'greater Bletchley'.
Further reading
* Edward Legg, Early History of Bletchley Park 1235–1937; Bletchley Park Trust Historic Guides series, No. 1, 1999
References
External links
West Bletchley Parish Council{{Milton Keynes parishes
Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire