At 9'-0" diameter, 7'-6" high, and weighing 13 tons 10 cwts 3 qtrs 15lbs (13,760 Kg), 'Big Ben' is the largest and the most famous bell ever to be cast at London's famous The Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT GET A CLOCK TOWER
Parliament decided in 1844 that the Palace of Westminster, the new 'Houses of Parliament', which was then under construction should include a clock tower. The architect Charles Barry (1795-1860) was awarded the commission for the work and the specification for the clock was drawn up by the Astronomer Royal, George Airy.
The exacting standards demanded by the Astronomer Royal were considered unattainable by most clockmakers of the time
for such a large clock and it was not until 1851 that a designer for the clock could be found in Edmund Beckett Denison
and his clock was completed in 1854 by Messrs E.J. Dent & Co.
DENISON'S FIRST BELL
Denison discovered that Barry, by then
Sir Charles Barry, had specified a 14 ton hour
bell but that the architect had
made no provision for its production, nor for that of the four smaller smaller quarter chime bells. Denison's studies
of clock had included the study of bells and he had developed his own ideas as to their design and manufacture.
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Denison produced his own design the hour bell; both for the shape of the bell as well as his own
recipe for the bellmetal alloy to be used - both differed significantly from the traditional custom and practice.
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Up to that time, the largest bell to have been cast in britain was '
Great Peter' at York Minster which weighed just 10� tons. As had been the case with the clock,
bellfounders were very wary of bidding for the contract for the fourteen ton hour bell, particualrly wary of
Denison's design.
Denison's bell was eventually made made at Stockton-on-Tees by John Warner & Sons albeit oversize at sixteen
tons. This bell was never hung however, having irreparably cracked while under test in the Palace Yard at
Westminster. His specification failed, Denison turned to the
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry
and a more traditional specification.
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It took a week to break up the Denison's old bell and three furnaces were required to melt
the metal.
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THE MAKING OF THE GREAT BELL
George Mears was the Foundry's owner amd its
master bellfounder at the time. According to Foundry's
records, Mears quoted a price of £2,401 for the casting of the great bell, but this was offset to the sum of
£1,829 by the metal he was able to reclaim from Denison's first bell. The actual invoice which was
tendered on May 28th, 1858, was for the sum of £572.
'Big Ben' was cast on Saturday 10th April 1858. Filling the mould with
the molten metal took twenty minutes but it took twenty days for the metal to solidify and cool. The mould itself
was heated all day before the actual casting took place - the first time this had been done in the history of
British bell-founding.
'BIG BEN' GOES TO WESTMINSTER
The great bell was tested in every way by Mears and we can only imagine the thoroughness of his efforts because
he must have been very concious of the fate of Denison's first bell. Denison himself approved the bell before it left the foundry for Westminster.
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The bell was transported the few miles from the
Foundry mounted on a trolley drawn by sixteen
brightly beribboned horses, made its way over London Bridge, along Borough Road, and over Westminster Bridge.
The dilivery of the bell was a major festive event as the everyday traffic was stopped for its passage, the
streets along its route were decorated for the ocassion and enthusiastic crowds cheered the bell along its way.
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'Big Ben' and the quarter bells
of the Great Clock of Westmister chimed across London
for the first time on May 31st, 1859.
NAMING THE GREAT BELL
'BIG BEN' CRACKS
Amongst the Astronomer Royal's requirements for the Great Clock of Westminster was that;-
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the first stroke of the hour bell should register the time, correct to within one second per day,
and furthermore that it should telegraph its performance twice a day to Greenwich Observatory
where a record would be kept.
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The exacting standards demanded by the Astronomer Royal were considered unattainable by most clockmakers of the time
for a large tower clock with heavy hands exposed to the vagrancies of wind and weather and driving striking
mechanisms. It was not until 1851 that a designer for the clock could be found in Edmund Beckett Denison
(later Sir Edmund Becket, the first Baron Grimthorpe).
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Denison's original model, the clock which he had built for the competition to find a clockmaker for
the task was installed at the parish church of St. Dunstan, at Cranbrook in Kent.
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Denison's clock was completed in 1854 by Messrs E.J. Dent & Co.
