Big Ben
Big Ben is one of Londons's best-known landmarks, and looks most spectacular at night when the clock faces are illuminated. Big Ben is not the name of the famous London Clock as many believe. It is, in fact, the name of the 13-ton bell which can be found inside the clock. The bell was probably named after a bureaucrat, Sir Benjamin Hall, the First Commissioner of Works. The bell can be found in St. Stephen's Tower which is at the northern end of the Houses of Parliament. The tower which holds the bell is also referred to as the Clock Tower for obvious reasons.
The light above the clock is lit when the Parliament is in session.The Clock Tower is a about 320 feet high with the clock faces being 23 feet wide. The copper minute hands are 14 feet long and cover the distance of an average man every 5 minutes. The figures on the clock face are about 2 feet long; the minute spaces are 1 ft. square; and the clock mechanisms alone weights about 5 tons.
Compared to the houses of Parliament the bell is not very old.The bell was completed in 1859 by Whitechapel Bell Foundry and at the time it was the largest bell in the United Kingdom. Big Ben is an excellent timekeeper, which has rarely stopped.The accuracy of the Clock is regulated with a stack of old pennies placed on the huge pendulum.
Jingle Big Ben ... X-mas Eve 1923
The BBC first broadcast the chimes of Big Ben on New Year's Eve in 1923. During the second world war in 1941, an incendiary bomb destroyed the Commons chamber of the Houses of Parliament, but the clock tower remained intact and Big Ben continued to keep time and strike away the hours, its unique sound was broadcast to the nation and around the world. There are even cells within the Clock Tower where Members of Parliament can be imprisoned for a breach of parliamentary privilege, though this is rare; the last recorded case was in 1880.
The tower is not open to the general public, but those with a "special interest" may arrange a visit to the top of the Clock Tower through their local (UK) MP.
| How to get there from Holiday Villa London... | |
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From Bayswater take the Circle Line towards High Street Kensington to Westminster (16 min.) Then walk to Big Ben (5 min.) |
Interchange: |
None |
Total travelling time: |
22 minutes (depending on the time of day) |