is a
Town in what is now
Milton Keynes new city,
England . It is formally in the
Borough Of Milton Keynes Unitary Authority , though until the administrative boundary change in
1995 it was in
Buckinghamshire . It is situated in the south-west of the city but still retains a distinctive identity. Bletchley is split between the parishes of
Bletchley And Fenny Stratford and
West Bletchley .
The town name is
Anglo Saxon and means ''Blæcca's wood''. It was first recorded in
Manorial rolls in the
12th Century as ''Blechelai''.
Bletchley is located on the
Roman Road Watling Street , and was also a major
Victorian Railway junction (the
London And North Western Railway with the Oxford-Cambridge line), which led to the huge urban growth in the town in that period.
Bletchley Railway Station is now one of the five stations which serve Milton Keynes.
At
Fenny Stratford , Bletchley is also linked to
London , the
Midlands and the UK
Canal network via the
Grand Union Canal .
In the urban growth of the Victorian period brought by the railway, the town merged with nearby
Fenny Stratford . In the early
1960s , there was a further substantial expansion of the town, with people from
London being relocated by the
Greater London Council , mainly to the south of
Water Eaton . But it was
"The Plan For Milton Keynes" that brough the most dramatic change to the fortunes of Bletchley.
''Main article
Milton Keynes ''
Bletchley was included in the "designated area" when the New City of was founded in
1967 . Bletchley thrived in the early years of the growth of the new city, since it was the main shopping area. Bletchley centre was altered considerably when the Brunel Shopping Centre was built in the early 1970s. Previously, Queensway — formerly known as Bletchley Road — was a continuous run from Buckingham Road near the railway station right into Fenny Stratford. The boom came to an abrupt end when the new City Centre was built and, in recent years, commercial Bletchley has declined.
See Also: Fenny Stratford
See Also: West Bletchley
Most districts of West Bletchley are residential and are described in the main article, but the districts of Denbigh and Bletchley Park are important enough to be sumarised here.
For many years, Denbigh has been an important employment area: perhaps its most famous resident is
Marshall Amplifiers . The parish name is misleading: Denbigh is to the north-east of central Bletchley.
In 2005, large commercial developments occurred outside Bletchley, although still in the
Civil Parish of West Bletchley. The supermarket chain
ASDA -
Wal-Mart and the
Swedish furniture retailer
IKEA built large stores at
Denbigh North , northeast of the town centre on
Watling Street , and
Tesco responded by expanding its
Fenny Stratford store (also on Watling Street). Whether or not these new developments accelerate the decline of the town centre remains to be seen.
This same area of development is also home to the new
Denbigh Stadium for
Milton Keynes Dons F.C. , who will move from their current home at the
National Hockey Stadium some time in 2006. Since the away fans will arrive via
Bletchley Railway Station , this may bring some added business to the town.
Within the parish is
Bletchley Park , which, during the
Second World War , was home to the
Government Code And Cypher School . The German
Enigma Code was cracked here by, amongst others,
Alan Turing . Another cipher machine was solved with the aid of early computing devices, known as
Colossus . The park is now a
Museum .
- Edward Legg, Early History of Bletchley Park 1235– 1937, Bletchley Park Trust Historic Guides series, No. 1, 1999
