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was destroyed in a calamitous fire in 1834, leaving only the medieval Westminster Hall, the
cloister and undercroft of St Stephen's Chapel, and the Jewel Tower built by Edward III in 1366
for his treasures. Westminster Hall, scene of many extravagant royal celebrations including
coronation banquets, is dominated by a massive hammer – beam angel roof.
The much-photographed Big Ben in St Stephen's Tower is actually the name of the huge 13
1/2-ton bell that strikes the hours. Old pennies are used to adjust the clock's mechanism, help-
ing it to keep in perfect time. The minute hands on each of the four dials are as high as a dou-
ble-decker bus.
BIG BEN
For tourists, photographers, residents, and even terrorists, this is the symbol of London. Big
Ben is one of London's best-known landmarks, and looks most spectacular at night when the
clock faces are illuminated. You even know when parliament is in session, because a light
shines above the clock face.
The four dials of the clock are 23 feet square, the minute hand is 14 feet long and the figures
are 2 feet high. Minutely regulated with a stack of coins placed on the huge pendulum, Big
Ben is an excellent timekeeper, which has rarely stopped.
Officially called the Clock Tower, millions of people around the world know it as "Big
Ben." In truth, Big Ben is the name of the bell inside the clock, not the tower. But trying to
convince people of that is akin to trying to stop a train with your car: it's possible, but not worth
the effort.
Not a building on its own, the 320-foot Clock Tower is one of two towers flanking Eng-
land's Houses of Parliament. It was built after a fire in 1834 destroyed most of the existing
structure. That inferno was caused by the burning of an abacus that was used for bookkeeping.
The fire got out of control and took most of the building with it. Charles Barry was the winner
of a competition to design the new center of government. He went with a Renaissance style,
and married it with Neo-Gothic details by Augustus Pugin, including the towers.
Inside the tower is Big Ben – a 13-ton bell that sounds the hours as time passes. There is no
firm documentation on how the bell got its name. Some think it was named after boxer Ben
Caunt. Others believe it was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, a rather hefty gentleman who
was a commissioner in Westminster.
This bell came originally from the old Palace of Westminster, it was given to the Dean of
St. Paul’s by William III. Before returning to Westminster to hang in it's present home, it was
refashioned in White chapel in 1858. The BBC first broadcast the chimes on the 31st December
1923 – there is a microphone in the turret connected to Broadcasting House.
During the second world war in 1941, an incendiary bomb destroyed the Commons cham-
ber 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, a welcome reassurance of hope to all who heard it.
There are even cells within the clock tower where Members of Parliament can be impris-
oned 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.
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