Affordable homes estate honours codebreaking hero

A new housing estate in Derbyshire has been named in honour of a World War Two codebreaker who once lived there.

The 38 homes in Sandiacre stand on the site of a house owned by Rolf Noskwith who worked at the famous Bletchley Park.

It was at Bletchley in Buckinghamshire that Noskwith worked with Alan Turing to break the codes used by German armed forces using the Enigma machine.

The estate's two roads have been named Bletchley Gardens Way and Enigma Close.

Twenty-two of the properties in the new estate are earmarked for households on Erewash Borough Council's housing register, with the other 16 to be part of a shared ownership scheme.

Curtis Howard, lead member for town centres, regeneration and planning, said: "We are excited to see this new development being completed.

"Our thanks go to all those involved - including Futures Housing and Cameron Homes.

"At the same time as families move into these precious affordable homes it is fantastic to honour our local Bletchley Park hero."

Noskwith moved with his family from Germany to England in 1932 and set up a textile business in Derbyshire.

While studying mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1941, he was approached for the top secret work of decoding the complex messages created by the Enigma machine.

Noskwith worked in Hut 8 which tackled German naval messages, initially under the leadership of Turing and then his deputy, Hugh Alexander.

After the war he continued his intelligence work before returning to help run the family business.

He was the last surviving member of the central team of Bletchley codebreakers when he died in 2017, aged 97.

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