England
Winston Churchill’s Birthplace
Winston Churchill was born at his Grandfathers (the Duke of Marlborough) humble home Blenheim Palace on 30 November 1874. Blenheim Palace is about 63 miles North West of Central London. Both the building and grounds (12000 acres) are impressive. The Palace itself was constructed from 1705 to 1722 and is one of the largest residences in the UK. The room he was born in is near the entrance. His mother was there visiting relatives when he was born well ahead of her due date. The self guided tour includes many of the state rooms in the Palace. But the real gem is the Churchill Display in the basement. It includes many of his childhood items, Military Uniforms and personal effects. Well worth the visit.
The Churchill War Rooms is part of the Imperial War Museum. (Which is to the right of this gallery) in London, located beneath the Treasury building in the Whitehall area of Westminster. The museum comprises the Cabinet War Rooms, a historic underground complex that housed a British government command centre throughout World War 2, and the Churchill Museum, museum exploring the life of Winston Churchill. (Link to the Churchill Birthplace Post)
Construction of the Cabinet War Rooms began in 1938. Became fully operational on 27 August 1939, a week before Britain declared war on Germany. The War Rooms remained in operation throughout the Second World War, before being abandoned in August 1945 after the surrender of Japan.
We booked our tour ahead of time and there was no wait to get inside at our appointed time. Both the Churchill Museum and the War Rooms are very well done with plenty to exhibits. While in the War Rooms you can imagine what it was like during the London Blitz.
Imperial War Museum
An easy walk from Westminster will bring you to the Imperial War Museum. If you have any interest in
Military History you should dedicate several hours to seeing it. An impressive collection awaits. When
we went they had a WW1 display as it was the 100 th anniversary of end of the Great War. Uniforms,
Trench Clubs, Flame Throwers, Trench Mortars, Gas masks. Tanks etc. The WW2 section was also
impressive with General Montgomery’s staff car and an Eagle from the Reich Chancellery being the two
stand out pieces. In our opinion the only Museum to surpass this is the Museum of Military History in
Vienna.