Wondering through Wimpole

 This morning we said our good-byes to Aston Clinton and began our way to Moultin, which is a tiny village near Newmarket, just east of Cambridge. 

Our travels took us to the National Trust Site, Wimpole, which was located about 2/3 of the way to our final destination. 

This must be the largest National Trust Estate that I've ever seen.  2500 acres.  There might be some that rival it in size, but I cannot seem to recall any from our recent travels. 

When we arrived, the manor house was not yet open for touring, so we opted to take the suggested "walk" to the folly.   We had a map with dotted lines suggesting a pathway, but it was soon obvious that the only clue of the desired path was a section of grass that was mowed down.  Which sounds like a good clue, but to be quite honest, there were several such mowed sections making it difficult to determine which way we should go. 

Since this happens frequently, one might think the issue is with Marty and me.  But today, we were joined by a couple who lives an hour away, who was just as confused as we were. In fact, Marty used the GPS on his phone so that we could determine which way to proceed together.  Soon we could see the folly in the distance. 

When one visits a National Trust Site, one of the volunteers inevitably says,  "There's this lovely little walk" but it rarely is little.  In fact, this might have been close to a mile...uphill....through a sheep field requiring careful planting of one's feet while walking.  The view, of course, is magnificent, but the length of the trail can be bit taxing when one has some mobility issues, and remember, that distance is only half way.  At the end of the day, my watch told me that I had walked 6.9 miles.  

In any event, it was worth the effort, but it would have been far less stressful had there been a sign directing us. And, actually, signage at this particular site could use some improvement as we found ourselves a bit lost on more than one occasion. 

But again, I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let me tell you a bit about the Wimpole Estate.  These displays along the entry walk give a great visual of just how long a manor house has stood on this land. 

It passed through several owners over the years, primarily due to lack of funds to continue maintenance.  The last owner was Elsie Kipling Bambridge.  She was the lone surviving child of Rudyard Kipling.  She took her role as owner seriously and made many improvements to the house and gardens.  Elsie gifted the estate in 1976, upon her death, to the National Trust, to safeguard the work that she had done in keeping the estate and house functioning.  

When we first arrived, the house was not yet open, and we were persuaded to take that "lovely walk" that I mentioned earlier. 

So, we walked by the house

then began the long walk to the folly

After enjoying the amazing views from the top, we headed down to the barnyard, which is actually a small working farm to this day. 

We saw some piggies hanging out in the barn. 

Then we made our way to the walled garden which was rather grandiose in itself.

I was delighted to see so many flowers still sporting their beautiful blooms!

There were several fig trees as well, each one with fruit getting ready to ripen!

By now, the house was open for touring so we made our way to the front entrance. 

Although, I will admit, I never expected to see this!

Apparently the house is decorated in full force for a Halloween tour, which soon became quite obvious as we walked along. 

The foyer in the front hall had some unique tile on the floor

and it overlooked a chapel that is set a floor below. 

Walking into the saloon, I could spy the folly in the distance from the window. 

The yellow room was just that, and featured a cupola in the ceiling.  A lot of natural light could shine through. 

The red room followed suit, but as you can see, held a few interesting decorations. 

Continuing on, we came to the library.  Actually, this is just the entrance to the library.  There were three sections of books here as well as a wall to my back. 

That led to the main library which was very long and filled with books, some dating back to the 1500''s. 

Moving along the ground floor, we came to this drawing room.  The painting above the fireplace is actually a little boy.  It is entitled Master George Graham and was painted in 1774, in India, by Tilly Kettle.  The Bambridges were avid collectors of art and prints and the house features quite a large collection. 

This unique painting caught my eye.  No artist is mentioned, but it is believed to be Austrian or Italian, painted in the 18th century.  It is entitled, "Interior of an Assembly Room with Figures Dancing", which is exactly what it appears to be. 

We came to the grand staircase, which I did not photograph, as it was decorated with roping to emulate a large spider web loaded with spiders of all sizes.  That, and that dining table that featured skeletons at every seat distracted from the historical significance. 

At the top of the staircase, this huge portrait is hanging on the wall.  The subject is Bishop Burnett and it is believed that this painting has hung in the hall since the 2nd Earl of Hardwick lived here in the 1700's. 

This is Captain Bambridge's bedroom located at the top of the stairs. 

His wife's bedroom is situated next door, but I did not photograph it.  It is much larger, holding not only a bed, but a sofa, table and chairs as well. 

Heading down the stairs to the ground floor,  one walks past the entrance to a rare, 18th century plunge bath. It was built by Sir John Soane in the early 1790's and is considered to be quite rare.  It can hold up to 2,199 gallons of water.  Obviously, someone needed to fill it, somehow, with hot water, and drain it after's its use.  It's amazing that it still exists in such great condition.   

Finally, we were sitting in the chapel, also built in the 1700's, gazing at these painted figures on the wall that resemble statues. 

How amazing is that?

From here we headed to the Stables which in itself was quite impressive. 

We certainly had another full day, having spent nearly five hours on this estate!  But now it was time to make the drive to our B&B for the night.  It is called the Packhorse Inn and it stands near a Medieval Bridge called the Moulton Packhorse Bridge built in the 15th century.  It was originally built to carry packhorses across the water.   

Perhaps I'll get some photos of that tomorrow. We checked in, then enjoyed a lovely dinner in the restaurant.  

The two young men who were running the place this evening are super friendly and eager to please. You really can't ask for much more than that. 

So, for now I bid you good night!  Thanks for following along!

Until next time....

Bletchley Park Codebreakers

 Today was certainly a fascinating experience for both Marty and me!  I had been somewhat familiar with Bletchley Park and its role in codebreaking during World War II from a PBS show that I had watched called The Bletchley Circle. It brought to light a group of women who had been chosen to be codebreakers. 

But there was SO much more to see and learn visiting Bletchley Park today. 

The house had been built in the French Renaissance style and after the original owner passed, a builder purchased it intending to develop a housing estate.  But in May of 1938, Admiral Sir Hugh Sinclair, head of the Secret Intelligence Service known as M16, purchased the site with his own funds.  He saw the necessity of having a hidden property for the purpose of deciphering enemy codes and cyphers should it be needed. 

This location ticked several boxes:  it was in the country and was named as Ridley's Hunting Lodge to defray suspicion of groups of men in residence; it was midway between Oxford and Cambridge, and located next to a train station, making travel from both university cities easy. 

It was easy to find, and only about 30 minutes from the inn where we were staying.  We parked the car and headed to the Welcome Center to see what awaited us.  It might be difficult to see, but I am in that photo. 

Once inside, we paid the admittance fee and headed to the information panels to get a feel for what to expect.  

There were interpretive boards which were instrumental in understanding the dynamics of what happened on these grounds.  

But the first thing to understand was the why.  The Germans realized during World War I, that their radio transmissions could be intercepted by the enemy, thwarting invasion plans.  When World War II began, they wanted to secure message transmissions, so they incorporated the Enigma Machine.  It was believed that using such a device would guarantee that their messages would be impossible to unscramble. 

A group of Polish mathematicians were the first to recognize that these cyphers could be decoded, and they approached the British codebreakers, sharing what they had learned.  This information was the missing link that the codebreakers needed to move forward. 

A select group was invited to interview for positions, but all under the guise of a different government agency.  Once approved, the original group was housed in the mansion on the grounds.  

When there was an issue that needed to be resolved immediately, the code :"Auntie Flo is not so well" meant services were needed. 

Everyone involved was required to sign the Official Secrets Act. 

As a result, after cessation of hostilities, the information was never released to the public.  And anyone involved had to continue to go on with their lives outside of Bletchley without releasing any information regarding what had happened there.  Families never knew what their loved ones were doing at Bletchley.  In fact, the museum is interested in hearing from anyone who might have been involved to improve their holdings.  

But before I go any further, let me mention that the first building  we visited was the radio transmission room.  Marty walked inside and said, Hello, I'm NN3R from the United States.  The other two men on the staff introduced themselves in similar fashion.  They seemed very excited to see a fellow ham radio operator visiting the facility.  Marty was sure to have me get his photo taken with them. 

From here we walked through the various buildings that were set up as they would have looked in the 1944-45 time period when the camp would have been at its largest. 

I'll admit, some of this was just mind boggling.  I can't even imagine how these people would know where to begin. 

The idea just seemed overwhelming.  However there were two simple tests to determine how one looks at a problem to decipher it, and I was able to successfully answer both.  But, as I said, they were very simple.  The task of attempting to solve these transmissions knowing that the next day, any progress made was back to stage one, would seem just too frustrating to me. 

But these brilliant men and women did it every day.  There was a room in the mansion that was devoted to veteran histories from many of those involved.  In the late 1970's, the men and women were cleared from the Official Secrets Act and they could begin to speak of their accomplishments.  Here are just a couple examples. 

This room was the secret meeting place of four American military personnel, Cpt Abraham Sinkov, LT Leo Rose, Lt Robert Weeks and Ensign Prescott Currier who met with the Bletchley team to discuss an exchange of information on Japanese and German codes and cyphers.  They arrived in the dark of night. 

The meeting was instrumental in setting up dialogue, and in 1942, Americans were posted to Bletchley Park where they became part of the team working on breaking Enigma.   This led to the collaboration of intelligence that continued after the war  in the UKUSA Agreement signed on March 5, 1946.

As more and more deciphering was needed, no space was unaffected.  Here you see the library with working desks added.

The mansion also featured this beautiful glass ceiling near the dining room

and this ornate ceiling decorated the ballroom.

The ballroom, covered in linen fold Oak panelling is the largest room in the mansion.  It was decided to use this room for recreation and rest rather than to use it as a typex machine repair workshop as originally suggested. 

The out buildings, called huts, were added on as more and more room was needed.   They were many items on display to help understand the complexity of just what was happening here. 

Here is a Japanese vocabulary book

flashcards for learning the Japanese language

and a book filled with notes.

and there were boxes of flash cards to help with translation as well. 

These cardboard letter strips were used to identify relationships between letters in the plain and cypher text.  This gave the codebreakers the starting position of one of the three Enigma rotors which helped to determine the settings used to scramble the message initially. 

Enigma machines do not transmit messages.   By typing on the keyboard it creates a cypher, which changes the letters into other letters or numbers. The new letter appears on a lighted panel which a second person copies onto paper.  Once completed, that enciphered message was transmitted by radio operator using standard Morse Code. 

The recipient of the cypher has a similar Enigma machine set up with the same variables.  When the message is typed in, the original words are revealed for the second person to copy down to be read. 

The deciphered code was only good for one day as the Germans changed the settings every 24 hours. 

Once deciphered, it would be translated by people on site who were fluent in the language, be it German, Italian or Japanese, as has been mentioned. 

Staff in the Typing Room prepared the reports based on the deciphered messages.  They were sent to M16 via currier.  

The reports were written in such a way to keep secret the fact that Enigma had been broken.  The report would imply that the information had been sent by a fictitious M16 spy codenamed Boniface. 

When it appeared that the British were able to decipher the missives, the Germans then changed to a more sophisticated machine called the Lorenz.  It required only one person as the results were punched onto tape, similar to typing. 

With increase use of the Lorenz cypher machines, Colossus machines were produced to help organize the information for deciphering. A second machine was added just prior to D-Day.  

Due to the efforts of Bletchley Park, the Germans were tricked into thinking that the Allied forces would be invading Calais and not Normandy.  Despite the huge loss of life during that fateful day, the British military considered this landing to be a huge success due to the limited German resources at the time of the landing. 

Several of the more prominent decoders are mentioned by name regarding their unique abilities.  Here are just two examples and comments that reflect their genius. 

Did you get that explanation? 

I was a bit disillusioned at first at the accolades that were being given to these people, claiming to have had played a huge part in saving so many lives.  I didn't understand how that claim could be made, knowing all that I do in respect to researching Missing in Action soldiers from this same war. 

But then, I came across the information in the naval decoding room, from which the above quote is taken.  And it was there that I realized that the deciphering of German transmissions led to sinking of an enemy convoy who would otherwise have attacked several Allied ships.  Every time an enemy ship was taken out, it was recorded to help keep an inventory of losses. 

One man who made a huge impact to cracking the enigma and also was instrumental in the founding of the computer world was Alan Turing.  

He was a brilliant mathematician who invented the machine known as the Bombe which significantly reduced the workload of the code breakers.  

He can be considered one of the founders of computing and the father of AI and much of Bletchley's success is due to the efforts of the brilliant man.  He was, however, a homosexual, which was considered to be illegal in his time.  As a result, his life was cut short due to treatments that he had received. 

Because he had signed the Secrets Act, his contributions were not recognized.  If it were not for this man, it is questionable as to how successful Bletchley would have been.  

Finally, in 1974, he was recognized posthumously for the outstanding contribution he made to mathematics, computing, and most importantly, to the war effort.  

An entire hall is dedicated to Artificial Intelligence based on books and articles that Turing had written.  

In answer to the question:  What is AI: 

This answer amused me:

And I found it interesting that they included Google's AI to answer the AI question.  

Did you find that as funny as I? 

Just a few other items from the Artificial Intelligence Hall.

Do you recall those histories that I mentioned earlier?  Well, Hall A walks you through the life of the various people who would have worked here.  I thought the presentation was quite unique. 

There were several similar stories but I chose to highlight just these two. 

On the grounds there is a memorial to the Polish mathematicians who helped Bletchley Park with codebreaking Enigma.  I must presume that the delay in making the memorial was due to the Silence Act that prohibited any leak of information related to this project. 

And finally, there is a memorial to those men and women who lived and worked here during those war time days.  It might look like a scramble of letters, but if you look closely, you can see  "We also served."

And that 's when I realized that these 9000 people involved had never been recognized post war for their service, because they were not permitted to tell anyone what they had done.  It's good to know that the secret classification was finally lifted so that these men and women could tell their stories.  And it certainly was an eye opening experience. One I'll soon not forget. 

Before I leave, let me share this photo of the mansion in the background with a heron floating on a buoy on the lake.  

A peaceful ending to a lovely day. 

In gratitude

Until next time...