Built / Designed For: Basil Brent

House & Family History: Hanslope Park is infamous for the July 21, 1912 murder of Edward Hanslope Watts by his gamekeeper, who killed himself after he murdered his master. During World War II Hanslope's owner, Lord Hesketh, turned the House over to the government, who used it as the base for the Radio Security Service. Alan Turing also worked here during the latter part of the war on secure speech scrambling. In 2011 Hanslope was in the news because of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's archives of the Colonial Office, which are held here. The archive’s collection of imperial records produced documentation of the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya, which led to compensation to those who had been maltreated at the Hola camp in 1959. Hanslope Park is home today to Her Majesty's Government Communications Centre.

House Listed: Grade II

Park Listed: Not Listed

Past Seat / Home of: Basil Brent, late 17th century. Edward Watts, 18th century; Watts family here until 1939. Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 1st Baron Hesketh, 1939-41.

Current Ownership Type: Government

Primary Current Ownership Use: Other

Ownership Details: Owned by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and home of the Government Communications Centre.

House Open to Public: No

Historic Houses Member: No