So, Big Ben Binged its last Bong yesterday for four years – apart from on VIO’s (Very Important Occasions).
Who would have thought a clock could arouse such passion and whip up such a hoo-ha? But then, we know how important the Clock Tower in Crouch End is to the identity of the area and how beloved it is of local people.
Big Ben is not actually a clock tower – it is the name of the bell itself – but it is the overall structure that captures the imagination. Which got me wondering – why did we make them and how long have they been around? So here’s the story:
What is it? A clock tower is a specific type of building made to hold a turret clock. It can be free standing or part of another building but to get tower status a building has to have at least fifty percent of its height is made up of floor plates containing habitable floor area. Bet you didn’t know that!
The use of clock towers goes back a long way. The earliest clock tower was in ancient Athens and featured 8 sundials and a water driven clock. Another liquid driven clock tower was erected in China in 1088 and the oldest surviving turret clock in Britain is the Salisbury Cathedral clock completed in 1306.
The building commonly called Big Ben was known simply as, the Clock Tower, the structure was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012, in honour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
The bell itself was originally meant to be called Royal Victoria. A great sense of ceremony surrounded its arrival in London. It was brought down the Thames by barge and then taken across Westminster Bridge by a carriage drawn by 16 white horses in 1859 (two previous bells had cracked and failed previously).
A few facts: The people of Britain first got to hear its sound from all over the country when the BBC first broadcast Big Ben’s chimes during a New Year’s Eve radio broadcast in 1923. The Elizabeth Tower stands 315ft (96 metres) tall and holds 11 floors. Its foundation stone was laid on September 28, 1843 and its foundations were dug 10ft (3 metres) deep. Each clock face is 23ft (seven metres) in diameter and composed of around 312 sections of opal glass. An hour hand is 9.2ft (2.8m) in length; a minute hand is 14ft (4.3m). Each clock dial is illuminated by 28 energy-efficient bulbs at 85 watts each; each bulb has a lifetime of 60,000 hours.
Phew – that’s enough I think. We look forward to hearing Big Ben strike stronger than ever after its face-lift.
