London’s Calling: A Bell is Born

Towering over the city, Big Ben is a symbol of London, its deep chime a familiar sound echoing through history.

Here is the fascinating story behind Big Ben’s journey toward its first iconic clang, but you will see, it wasn’t without hiccups.

The tower was built in the 1840s and ’50s, and it took more than 10 years to complete. It was finally completed in 1859, and has come to be very well known worldwide. It was one of its kind: when you see this Clock Tower, you immediately know that you are in London.

The tower is 96 meters tall. At the time it was built, it was one of the largest clock towers in the world, but that has now been surpassed many times over. By comparison, the largest clock tower now is the Abraj Al Bait in Saudi Arabia.

However, it wasn’t until 1862 that the clock was fully functional and the bells could be heard for the first time throughout London.

A Clock of Grand Design

The story begins in 1851 when Edmund Denison, a renowned horologist, in association with Sir George Airy (then Astronomer Royal) and the not less renowned clock maker Edward John Dent, were appointed to design the Great Clock of Westminster.

Work started in 1852 and in 1854, the clock mechanism, a masterpiece of engineering, was completed.

The 4 clock faces are each 23 feet (7 meters) in diameter and were the largest of their kind in Britain; the hour hand, made of copper sheet, weighs a staggering 220 pounds (100 kilograms) and stretches a remarkable 13.8 feet (4.2 meters) in length. The minute hand is even longer, reaching a staggering 18 feet (5.5 meters).

That record too was broken since then…

Keeping Perfect Time (with a Few Pennies)

The clock was built to be accurate within two seconds, 

Despite its immense size, the Great Clock is known for its accuracy, which is remarkable considering the length and weight of these hands and the fact that they are completely exposed to the outside weather.

This precision is maintained through a fascinating mechanism – pre-decimal pennies! Believe it or not, adding or removing a single penny from a specific location in the pendulum can adjust the clock’s speed by a minuscule two-fifths of a second per day.

This ingenious system allows the clockmakers to fine-tune the Great Clock’s timing, even today, ensuring its chimes remain a reliable marker of time.

Ah yes, the chime. Here we are:

A Bell of Grand Proportions

Cast in 1856, the Great Bell, ‘Big Ben’, was a behemoth – over 7 feet tall (2.29 meters) and nearly 9 feet in diameter (2.74 meters), and a whopping 13.7 tonnes – That’s about the same weight as a London double decker bus!

There are a lot of theories about where this name came from; one of them being that the bell was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, the Chief Commissioner of Works, who was affectionately known as ‘Big Ben’.

But there are actually five bells in the clock tower! There are four smaller bells, known as quarter bells, that chime every quarter hour with different musical notes:

• The first quarter bell plays a G#
• The second quarter bell plays a F#
• The third quarter bell and Big Ben both play an E
• The fourth quarter bell plays a B

The four quarter bells are all played together every 15 minutes, and Big Ben joins on the hour only, and together they make THE quintessential chime:

Engineering Challenges and a Dramatic First Attempt

Hanging such a massive bell was no easy feat. An elaborate wooden frame was constructed to hoist it 316 feet (96 meters) into the clock tower.

In 1856, he first ‘Big Ben’ bell was cast at Warners of Norton near Stockton-on-Tees. The bell was originally to be called ‘Royal Victoria’.  

However, disaster struck during testing in 1857. The hammer, designed by Denison himself, was far too heavy. With each mighty swing, it cracked the bell, leaving a deep wound: the newly christened Big Ben was silenced before it could even complete its first chime.

John Warner, the bell’s manufacturer, and Edmund Denison, designer of the Great Clock, clashed over who was responsible for the damage.  

A Second Chance and Triumphant Tones

Disheartened but not defeated, the clockmakers went back to the drawing board.

In April 1858 the second ‘Big Ben’ was cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in East London. It was transported to New Palace Yard on a carriage drawn by 16 white horses.

Big Ben was then raised into the belfry.

The Great Clock started ticking on the 31st May 1859 and the Great Bell’s strikes were heard for the first time on the 11th July. On that momentous day, Big Ben finally chimed, its deep, resonant tones echoing across the city.

Big Ben was found to be fractured again a few months later, and the Bell remained silent again, with the largest quarter bell striking the hourly chime, until 1863, when Sir George Airy, the Astronomer Royal, suggested Big Ben be turned 90 degrees and the striking mechanism redesigned with a lighter hammer.

And this time: success!

The striking of the bell has been controlled by electric motor since 1912, but the clock itself is still hand-wound thrice weekly.

More Than Just Keeping Time

For over 150 years, Big Ben has been ticking almost nonstop, through peace and war, and became an international symbol of timekeeping. Since 1924, its famous chimes have been used by the BBC to mark the hour for radio broadcasts.

Big Ben’s Big Silence – again! (March 31st, 2017)

A Time for Restoration

Despite its seemingly unyielding nature, Big Ben, like all structures, requires maintenance. By 2017, the bells, the clock mechanism and their supporting structure, the Elizabeth Tower, were in dire need of extensive restoration work, and for a period spanning over four years, the familiar chimes fell silent again.

A Chime for the Future

Finally, after extensive work, Big Ben’s long silence ended in April 2021. The restored chimes, while slightly quieter than before, rang out once more, marking the culmination of a complex and historic restoration project.

Helene

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