London is famous for its massive clock called Big Ben which located in Westminster, London. Many people associate Big Ben with both the clock and the whole tower clock, while actually, Big Ben itself refers to the Great Bell of the striking clock which weighs approximately 15.1 tons. The hands of the clock are 9 and 14 feet (2.7 and 4.3 metres) long, respectively, and the clock tower rises about 320 feet (97.5 metres).

          The tower clock was originally named St. Stephen’s Tower. However, it was renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. This occasion was held upon the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II.

          The origin of why the clock is given ‘Big Ben’ as a nickname remains uncertain. One theory proposes that it comes from the heavyweight boxer Benjamin Caunt while another suggests that the true inspiration for the bell’s moniker was a Welsh civil engineer named Sir Benjamin Hall, who served in the House of Commons.

          The dials of the clock were designed by Augustus Pugin by drawing inspiration from a famous Britain clockmaker, Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy. The whole frame is 22.5 feet (6.9 m) in diameter and contains 324 pieces of opalescent glass. A Latin inscription DOMINE SALVAM FAC REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRIMAM, which means "O Lord, keep safe our Queen Victoria the First" is written at the base of each dial. Meanwhile, the movement of the clock was designed by Edmund Beckett Denison (later Sir Edmund Beckett and Lord Grimthorpe) in association with Sir George Airy (then astronomer royal) and the clockmaker Edward Dent. As the tower was not completely finished until 1859, Denison took some time to have an experiment and later invented a double three-legged gravity escapement which provides the best separation between pendulum and clock mechanism, thus mitigating the effects of rain, wind and snow on the dials.

          Meanwhile the tower – the Elizabeth Tower – was raised as a part of Sir Charles Barry's design for a new Palace of Westminster, after the old palace was largely destroyed by fire on 16 October 1834. Augustus Pugin was responsible for the design of the tower. The construction of the tower began on 28 September 1845. It was Pugin’s last design before he died in 1852.

          Big ben has become a cultural symbol in the United Kingdom. Many filmmakers and television broadcast show the Big Ben clock – often with a red double-decker bus or a black cab in the street, to indicate the general location of the country.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Big-Ben-clock-London

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben#Origin

Pict source:

https://lp-cms-production.imgix.net/news/2017/08/London.jpg