Big Ben- the United Kingdom’s favourite landmark

Big Ben, rising majestically over the River Thames at the northern end of the Houses of Parliament, is one of London’s best known landmarks. Originally the name ‘Big Ben’ referred specifically to the largest of the five bells in the clock tower. This is the bell which strikes the hour, while the other four bells strike the quarters. However, the term ‘Big Ben’ is now generally used for the clock itself and the clock tower. Where the name comes from is uncertain. It may refer to Sir Benjamin Hall MP, who was closely involved with the building of the first bell and who was a very large man, or it may be Benjamin Caunt, a popular heavyweight boxer of the time, who was himself nicknamed ‘Big Ben’.

The current Houses of Parliament were built to replace the old Palace of Westminster which was destroyed in a fire in 1834. The architect chosen for the project was Charles Barry, who was in the classical tradition, but Barry also had a lot of help from Augustus Pugin, an expert in the Gothic Revival style which was popular. The result was a stunning building with noble classical lines and dazzling Gothic decoration. The whole building was completed in 1860, but the clock tower was finished a little earlier.

There were a lot of arguments over who should build the great clock to go in the clock tower, but in the end the clockmakers Edward and Frederick Dent made the clock to the design of Edmund Denisen. Denisen was a barrister and only an amateur clock designer, but he produced a fantastically accurate clock. It included a revolutionary mechanism to make sure the clock kept the correct time and was not affected by external factors such as wind pressure.

The making of the great bell of Big Ben was an enormous project and there were many difficulties. The first bell was made in Stockton-on-Tees in the north of England in 1856 and was then transported to London. It was hung in the New Palace Yard to be tested but it cracked during testing. Possibly the metal was incorrectly mixed, or the hammer was too heavy. A second, lighter, bell (still over 13 tons!) was made at the Whitechapel Foundry in London and was placed in the clock tower in October 1858. However, the following year the new bell also cracked and couldn’t be used for four years. During that time, the quarter bells, which were smaller, were used to strike the hour. Eventually, the Astronomer Royal, George Airy, was able to repair Big Ben by turning the bell a little so that the hammer struck in a different place, and by installing a lighter hammer. However, the crack in the bell was never repaired and gives Big Ben its characteristic ‘bong’, which is slightly off-key.

Big Ben’s four-sided clock face was designed by Augustus Pugin. The clock face’s diameter is 7m, the hour hand is 2.7m and the minute hand is 4.3m. Each clock face consists of 317 pieces of opal glass, like a stained glass window. At the base of each clock is the Latin inscription: ‘DOMINE SALVAM FAC REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRIMAM’ which means ‘Lord, save our Queen Victoria the First’.

The BBC first broadcast the chimes of Big Ben in 1923. Since then, the sound of Big Ben striking the hour has become familiar all over the world as it is used on the BBC World Service. Its chimes are also used every evening on ITV’s News at Ten and to bring in the New Year on New Year’s Eve. Over the years, Big Ben has become a London icon and is often used in films to identify a London location. Most of the 5 million tourists who visit London every year visit Big Ben and in 2008 it was voted the United Kingdom’s favourite landmark.