Good-as-new Big Ben dials on full show to ring in 2022
All four of Big Ben’s dials will be on display for the first time in four years as London rings in 2022, UK parliamentary authorities said recently.
The Great Clock and the Elizabeth Tower have been shrouded in scaffolding since 2017 for extensive renovation work which has also largely silenced the trademark bongs and chimes of the famous bell inside it.
But the restoration is nearly complete, and Big Ben will strike 12 for the last time using a temporary mechanism before the original is back in place early in the new year. The 11.5-tonne Queen Victoria-era mechanism was removed from the tower overlooking the River Thames at one end of the UK parliament to protect it from the dust and debris created by works on the 96mhigh tower.
It was transported to a specialist company in northwest England, where all of its more than 1,000 working pieces were cleaned and repaired.
Keith Scobie-Youngs, director and co-founder of the Cumbria Clock Company, said it was a “once-in-alifetime opportunity to work on the best-known clock in the world” and “the heart of the UK”.
“We were able to assemble the time side, the heart-beat, and put that on test in our workshop, so for two years we had that heartbeat ticking away in our test room, which was incredibly satisfying,” he said.
“We’re working on the installation of the mechanism in the Tower at the moment, so it’s a very exciting time.”
The Great Clock was designed by Edmund Beckett Denison and installed by Edward John Dent in 1859, with the aim of creating the most accurate public clock in the world.
Ian Westworth, one of parliament’s team of clock mechanics, said it had been a “duty and privilege” for his team to work on it.
“I think Edward John Dent would be pleased as punch that the clock that he made will still be doing the job that he designed it to do, over 160 years later,” he added.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Monday evening said the city would
no longer be hosting a New Year’s Eve event in Trafalgar Square because of rising cases of Covid-19. The coronavirus pandemic has forced the British capital to cancel its annual fireworks display on the River Thames for two years in a row. Big Ben — the nickname for the 13.7 tonne Great Bell
— is often used as a catch-all for the Elizabeth Tower and the Great Clock.
The temporary mechanism has been used for several landmark events during the renovation works, including Armistice Day, Remembrance Sunday, and as Britain left the European Union on Jan 1, 2020.