The Bungalow and attached wall to east and stable range to the south, Bletchley, Milton Keynes

Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 16/07/2020

SP 8633
721/4/10006

BLETCHLEY
SHERWOOD DRIVE
The Bungalow and attached wall to east and stable range to the south

(Formerly listed as The Bungalow and attached wall to east and stable range to the south, Bletchley Park, PARKS GARDEN)

GV
II
Cottages for estate staff, now a single dwelling house, with attached stables. Built for (Sir) Herbert Samuel Leon. 1883-1887. Converted in 1938-39 to provide accommodation for Government Code and Cypher School (CG&CS) by Hubert Faulkner, a local builder; further c1990-2000 modifications, including the creation of a new west-facing gable at the junction with Fenella (not included), and the removal of a brick structure in the rear angle.

The Bungalow is built of red brick above a chamfered plinth of variable height, in Flemish bond. Has applied timber framing above, painted black, with whitewashed pebbledashed infill panels. Plain red tiled roof with wide spread open eaves, boarded soffit and arcaded bargeboards. Three brick chimneys (one recently removed) the square base carrying diagonally set brick shafts, with three-course out-stepping heads and red clayware pots. The stable range built of red brick, with plain tiled roofs and crested ridge tiles.

Plan: the stable range extends from a short return west of the gatehouse (qv) on the south side of the stable yard, and runs north enclosing the yard on the west side, later extended to terminate at the south gable of The Bungalow at its north end.

EXTERIOR: The Bungalow is one and a half storeys. East elevation has three-light timber casements to three-window front and central gable with decorative bracing in a central panel. Later flat-roofed extension on the west side, encompassing the former coal house, now the entrance and breakfast area of the kitchen. A projecting gable on the west side has applied framing to gable with late C20 casement above two three-light timber casement windows set in cambered openings.

The stable range is single storey. The centre bay has a jettied gable facing the yard; timber framed with pebbledashed infill panels, carried on shaped brackets. A further small gabled dormer opens towards the yard on the south end of this range, perhaps lighting the smithy, the chimney of which is on the rear slope. Three boarded stable doors, and two similar double doors on the ground floor. The garage door below the jettied gable was extended forwards in the early C20 to accommodate Denniston's Rover (see historical note). The range is windowless at the rear, but the jettied bay on the east front extends to form a half tile hung gable at the rear. At the north end, a high brick wall extends east to enclose the yard, interrupted at the centre by two tall brick piers with pyramidal stone caps and ball finials (one missing), carrying wrought iron gates. In front of the walls, semicircular bases for railings for the dog kennels.

INTERIOR: The Bungalow altered in 1938 when split into two dwellings. immediately prior to occupation by GC&CS, and has since has been extensively altered.

HISTORICAL NOTE: The stable range was used as a blacksmiths's shop and a range of hunter stables of six loose boxes and four stalls, with a pigeon loft over in the central jettied gable. During the Second World War it was used as garages for VIP vehicles, the central bay built out in 1939 to accommodate Denniston's Rover car. The loft over was used for carrier pigeons, usually flown out through Thurleigh to occupied Europe, for communications from resistance groups.

The group of buildings intimately associated with, and lying to the north of the listed Bletchley Park consists of two ranges of buildings forming the south and west side of the former stable yard, a row of three cottages, now forming the north side of the yard, and two estate buildings, now private dwelling houses known as The Bungalow and Fenella (not included), continuing the west range further to the north beyond the north gate. The range of eight loose boxes enclosing the stable yard on the east was demolished in 1937.

Bletchley Park is the successor to Water Hall, a fine mansion built in 1711 by the eminent historian Dr Browne Willis, co-founder of the Society of Antiquaries of London, on land purchased by his ancestor from the second Duke of Buckingham in 1694. The house was demolished in 1798 by Thomas Harrison, steward to Earl Spencer, the then owner. The estate was split up and was bought in 1865 by a descendent, Spencer Harrison, who sold it in 1870s to a Mr Coleman, who erected a new house, which now forms the rear part of the house now known as Bletchley Park. This was enlarged by a succeeding owner, Samuel Beckham in 1881 who had bought it with 430 acres. The estate however was again sold in 1883 to Herbert Samuel Leon, an eminent stockbroker, financier, company director, later a county councillor, Liberal MP for North Division of Buckinghamshire (1891-1895), newspaper proprietor, successful farmer and a good friend of the Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who frequently stayed at the house. He was created baronet in 1911, and through his local interest and beneficence, the town benefited considerably. Sir Herbert considerably enlarged the house immediately following his purchase, adding an opulent new south front range. The identity of his architect is not known. He also developed ancillary accommodation to the north around a stable yard and his extensive nursery gardens, which included a walled garden and orchid houses. Further buildings on the estate, which at one time had about 200 staff, including the Lodge, built in 1886, Dauphin House (for M & E engineer) 1886, the Laundry 1888, Lodge and Pavilion on Buckingham Road, 1896-7, a house in School Lane, 1899 and the eight Noel Cottages on Church Green Road, of 1904. He died in 1926 and Lady Fanny Leon continued to live there and actively support the community until her death in 1938. The estate was then further split up and sold.

After March 1938, with the tensions in Europe rising fast following the Austrian Anschluss, the property, then vacant, was identified from a list of available properties by 'Commander' Alastair [PW1] Denniston of the Ministry of Works as a new dispersal location for the Foreign Office's Code and Cypher School, GC & CS, later renamed GCHQ. The first elements of the organisation, known flippantly as Capt. Ridley's Shooting Party', moved in in August 1939. The accommodation in the house was soon insufficient for the rapidly growing organisation, and personnel spilled over into all outbuildings, and a range of hastily erected prefabricated huts.

The organisation, under Rear-Admiral Sinclair, who was later referred to simply as 'C', was equipped with and developed the Enigma electro-mechanical deciphering machines originally designed in the 1920s. The enemy coded messages deciphered here by the 7,000-plus staff were greatly instrumental in the prosecution and successful outcome of the Second World War. The accommodation was soon expanded into a series of huts, a further expansion occurring in response to German expansion into the Balkans and North Africa. The Station was responsible for developing methods to penetrate up to 58 German Enigma codes, and to sift the intelligence, termed top secret ULTRA, for direct transmission to the Prime Minister, Whitehall and to operational field stations, the Special Liason Units. One of its most significant early successes was the interception of the German Knickebein beam guidance system in June 1940. Later, it became the hub of the Battle of the Atlantic and was able to forewarn accurately the disposition of German defences prior to Operation Overlord. It also identified secret work at Peenemunde and forewarned the V -weapon attacks.

SOURCES: Ashford, D (ed), In search of the Leons. Leon School. N.d.; Enever, Ted, Britain's Best Kept Secret. 1994 and 1999, Chapter 4, pp 33f; Legg, E. Early History of Bletchley Park, 1999; Low, D C. Bletchley Park and Mansion, 1980; Markham Sir F, History of Milton Keynes and District, Vol 2, 1975, pp 271-3; Ratcliffe, 0, History and Antiquities of the Newport pagnell Hundreds, 1900, pp 564-5; Skevington, M. Pigeon Flying from Bletchley Park. Short talk. Ref: BP 040700; Information provided by Bob Watson, and P Westcombe of the Bletchley Parks Trust.

Listing NGR: SP8635633949

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