Bell tolls for Big Ben clock face as work starts on makeover
BIG Ben’s clock faces disappeared beneath scaffolding yesterday ahead of conservation work that will silence the bell until 2021.
Workmen could be seen in front of the 315ft Elizabeth Tower in Westminster as they prepared for the £61million maintenance works.
The 13.7-ton bell was silenced in August over fears it would deafen workers.
Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster and is usually extended to refer to the clock and clock tower as well.
The tower was renamed to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Previously, it was known simply as the Clock Tower.
The renovation project was originally expected to cost just under £30million. But the cost escalated after contractors assessed the work.
And a row broke out after the bell was silenced amid health and safety fears for workers.
Some MPs have called for it to chime when Britain leaves the European Union on March 29, 2019 .
Tory MP Peter Bone said: “Big Ben should bong when we come out of the EU.
“We are being liberated from the European Union superstate and Britain will again be a self-governing country. Where will the eyes of the world be? On Parliament and Big Ben. It is the heart of our nation.”
Fellow Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg added: “It would be symbolically uplifting for it to sound out our departure from the EU as a literally ringing endorsement of democracy.”
The bell was stopped for repair work in 2007 and in 1983 for two years’ refurbishment.