Big Ben can keep on ringing with no danger to Westminster workmen
SIR – Serjeants at Arms after late-night duty in the House of Commons slept in a bedroom half way up Parliament’s Elizabeth Tower below Big Ben.
I recall sometimes being kept awake by the noise of traffic in Parliament Square and the sound of the clock weights being wound up the central shaft early in the morning, but never by the chimes of Big Ben.
London SW11
SIR – As a retired bell-ringer at York Minster, I have often stood next to Great Peter, its bourdon bell, while it was rung and I have suffered no problems with my hearing as a result.
Great Peter weighs 10 tons, 16 cwt and three quarters. Like Big Ben, its deep bass note is not harmful to the ear. Great Peter is swung, producing a greater force than Big Ben, against which the clapper is tapped.
If the workmen remain outside the housing frame, there is no risk.
Haxby, North Yorkshire SIR – Those of us inside the turret of a Chieftain tank when the armament went off managed perfectly well with ear-mufflers. It would have been counterproductive had we not fired on account of it being a bit noisy.
Colinsburgh, Fife
SIR – Hooray for Melvyn Lee (“It’s nonsense to silence Big Ben, says clockmaker who tended it for decades,” report, August 18). Let’s hope Parliament has the sense to listen.
London SW12
SIR – If we can manage without Big Ben for four years, do we need it at all? Why not pull down the Elizabeth Tower and save the expensive repairs? Perhaps even more tourists will come to photograph where it once stood.
White Roding, Essex
SIR – Several retired colleagues and myself, all qualified in architecture, engineering, or building surveying, and all with a profound practical knowledge of the Palace of Westminster, have been flabbergasted by many of the alleged weaknesses to the building recently highlighted.
Many items, particularly the elderly services, do require renewal, but some perceived deficiencies in the main construction have been exaggerated. Impressions have been given that the building has been neglected in the past, but Rodney Perry’s letter (August 19) alone draws attention to stonework conservation previously carried out – on the whole external facades and still continuing in the inner courtyards.
In the Seventies I was a principal architect in the Department of the Environment, responsible for most major new works at the Palace. Some projects were very close to the House of Lords chamber or to the Commons chamber. It was quite possible to carry out works without disrupting the business of either House.
London W4