Building Elizabeth Tower.

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, he was a bit of a creative genius and a distinguished draughtsman, it was he who designed the Elizabeth Tower  - in a neo-Gothic style, a style for which he was well known.

The foundation stone for the Elizabeth Tower was laid on the 28th of September 1843 and work started soon after. Building materials for the tower were transported by road and boat. The bricks came from Hendon in Middlesex, stone came from Anston, near Sheffield in South Yorkshire, the steps and paving stones came from Hopton Wood, near Matlock in Derbyshire, and the slate was brought from the Preseli Hills, Pembrokeshire in South Wales. The stone for the interior was was brought all the way from Caen, in Normandy, France.

When boats arrived up the Thames with these materials, a winch lifted them onto the riverbank.  At ground level, the Masons worked the stone to produce all the beautiful and delicate carvings - before it was taken to the base of the tower and hoisted-up into position.

The builders who constructed the tower, up to clock dial level, were a civil engineering partnership between Thomas Grissell and and his cousin Morton Peto. Their partnership built many major buildings and monuments in London they became one of the major contractors in the building of the rapidly expanding railways of the time.

Built from the inside out

The tower was built from the inside out. Londoners could see the tower slowly rise above the city but with no workmen or materials visible. Sixty-one meters of brickwork, covered with sand-coloured Anston stone, rose out of the ground before the two-tier iron spire was added.

A special gantry was set up on the top of the tower to make it easier to assemble the brick and stone, layer by layer. Steam-powered winches lifted the materials up a shaft within the tower so that no scaffolding was needed.  Jacks were used to lift the gantry up the tower as it increased in height.

Inside the tower.

There is an air shaft to bring in fresh air to the rest of the palace from a high level, a tall stone winding staircase was erected in one corner, also, there is a weight shaft for the clock - in the centre.

On the lower levels there is a Prison Room - built for the MPs who did not follow the rules or committed crimes of the House of Commons.   Maybe the Prison Room should be used today for some of the MP's.  Above the Prison Room there are rooms to store  official documents.

Brick floors, with stone paving on top, were supported by cast-iron beams.  The cast-iron and wrought-iron for the roof was made by Jabez James of Lambeth. Jabez James also made the mighty bell-frame for the five bells, as well as the four cast iron dials for the clock. Cast-iron details on the roof though were carried-out by John Hardman of Birmingham and the painted decoration and gilding was undertaken by F. Crace & Son of London.

From the laying of the foundation stone it took sixteen years to build before any of those mighty bells would ring out across Westminster and the great clock would pass-on its time.  Elizabeth Tower stands at three hundred and sixteen feet (316) tall.  There are three hundred and thirty-four (334) steps, from the ground to the Belfry.

The Elizabeth Tower does tilt, slightly.

During 1965 plans were introduced to build an underground car park for the MP's. It was noticed at that time there was a slight tilt on the Elizabeth Tower.  After a measurement was taken, it was discovered a tilt of 0.26 degrees was apparent. Nothing to be too worried about, yet.  So, from its base to the top of the tower it leans about eight inches (8") about 21cm.   An expert said, "it would take about ten thousand years (10,000) before it became as bad as that famous leaning tower in Pisa, Tuscany Italy.  From the years of 1995 to 1997, while the new London Underground Jubilee Line was being extended - to Westminster -  many thousands of tonnes of concrete were used, this should help to stop the Elizabeth Tower from leaning anymore.  We don't want to have to change its name to the Leaning Tower of London, do we?

The Great Clock of the Palace of Westminster. 

Constructing the most accurate clock in the world.

A devastating fire had partially destroyed the Place of Westminster on the night of the 16th of October 1834 - due to workmen burning to much wood at a single time in the the furnace below the House of Lords.  Although Westminster Hall was saved, not much else was.  So, a competition to design a new Houses of Parliament was announced.  Architect Charles Barry won the competition in 1835.  Because Barry's design featured a clock tower, and he was not a specialist in clock design, he sought advice from his friend Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy, who was the Queen's Clockmaker.  Many other respected clockmakers, like Edward John Dent, wanted to be involved and disputes broke out. So, in 1846, another competition was held, this time, to decide who should build the clock.

Sir George Biddell Airy, Astronomer Royal, was to referee the competition. He wanted, in fact demanded, the clock must be the most accurate turret clock in the world and specified that the Great Clock for Parliament’s tower should be accurate to within one second when striking on the hour, and every hour.

Edward Beckett Denison, a Barrister and obviously a talented amateur horologist, became a joint judge and referee

Designing a clock capable of such accuracy was a huge challenge. Until then, time varied by about 15 minutes across Britain.  In February 1852 the designs were finally deemed good enough to build such a clock.  These designs were drawn-up by Edmund Beckett Denison.

The famous chronometer and watchmaker Edward John Dent won the competition and he was appointed to build the clock with his stepson Frederick Dent. 

Queen Victoria officially opened the New Palace of Westminster at the State Opening of Parliament in 1852 but the clock tower was still unfinished.

It took two whole years to complete the clock mechanism at a cost of two thousand five hundred pounds (£2,500). The clock was installed in April 1859 when the building works were completed.  It successfully began keeping time on the 31st of May 1859.

Intricate tests had to be carried-out to ensure its accuracy.  At the Royal Observatory at Greenwich were the most accurate chronometers. A telegraph wire was set-up to send the time on the chronometers to the New Palace of Westminster from the Royal Observatory to check the clocks accuracy.  The Great Clock passed the test and did indeed keep the correct time.

The Dent family business of Clockmakers serviced and maintained the clock until Thwaites and Reed took-over permanently in 1976. Since sometime in 2002 a specialised team of skilled clockmakers have been employed as an in-house team to take care of the Great Clock.

Recently, during its big renovation, the clock's mechanism, consisting of just over one thousand (1,000) pieces - were removed from the tower, and all eleven and-a-half-tonnes of it shipped North to the Cumbria Clock Company, where every part was meticulously cleaned and repaired.

Parliament's in-house clock mechanics together with the Cumbria Clock Company mechanics re-installed all of the pieces and tested the Great Clock ready for the first New Year's Eve ringing for three years - midnight on the 31st of December 2020.

The Great Bell of the Palace of Westminster. 

The Casting of Big Ben

In order for Barry’s vision of the greatest chiming turret clock in the world to succeed, he needed bells.   A Great Bell was commissioned to hang in the belfry with four smaller bells, called quarter bells.   Every fifteen minutes, the quarter bells chime and on the hour, every hour, the Great Bell would strike to let Parliament and Londoners know the time.

John Warner’s foundry near Stockton-on-Tees cast the bell in August 1856. The four quarter bells were cast by his firm’s foundry, at Cripplegate in London, later the same year.   Big Ben was moved by rail and sea and triumphantly pulled across Westminster Bridge by 16 grey/white horses.

The Hammer was too heavy.

Denison wanted the loudest sound possible so installed a huge hammer to strike the hour bell in a cradle in the yard below the tower.  The bell was tested each day until 17 October 1857 when a huge three feet eleven inch (3'11") crack appeared.  The hammer was far too heavy.

The giant bell was removed and melted down to create a replacement bell. The replacement bell is the bell which hangs in the clock tower’s belfry today.  The new bell was cast by George Mears at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry on 10 April 1858. At between, what some say is, 3.1 tons, and others claim its 3.7 tons.  Whatever its weight, (I've never weighed it), it was lighter than the first bell.  The Great Bell is more than seven (7) feet tall and more than nine (9) feet wide.

To get the new bell up to the belfry, without damage, it had to be turned on its side.  It took 30 hours to winch-it-up inside the towers ventilation shaft .

Overseeing these complicated stages of the tower was the First Commissioner of Works, Sir Benjamin Hall MP.  It is believed the Great Bell, was probably nick-named Big Ben after him - in fun of course - because he was a big man or, it was possibly nick-named after a heavyweight Boxer of that time, (a 19th Century heavyweight champion) Benjamin Caunt - his nickname was already Big Ben.  The truth being it could have been nick-named after each of the men.

The Great Bell, Big Ben, rang out for the first time on the 11th of July 1859. Unfortunately, in September the same year, the new bell also cracked.  A small square was cut out of the bell to prevent the crack from spreading.  What else could they do?

A clever solution.

It was Sir George Airy, the Astronomer Royal, who eventually came up with a solution.  He suggested that Big Ben should be turned so many degrees, so that it was struck in a different spot.  Also, the original hammer was replaced by a lighter version.  This worked fine.  The old crack and the hole are still visible today.

The Great Bell, with the smaller hammer, strikes a low E note.  Some say its an B note, it is not! 

Each of the bells are struck by hammers from outside of the bells - there are no clappers inside any of the bells.  

The Quarter Bells:

They are all different sizes and weights.

The weights are: 

Big Ben, as we know, weighs-in-at 13.7 tonnes.  Its the hammer alone weighs 200kg.

Quarter bell one weighs 1.1 tonnes 

Quarter bell two weighs 1.3 tonnes

Quarter bell three weighs 1.7 tonnes, and

Quarter bell four weighs 4 tonnes.

Their notes are - first quarter...

Quarter bell one G#

Quarter bell two F#

Quarter bell three  E, and

Quarter bell four rings out a B - below the other notes. 

Then, the same notes in different orders on the second, third and fourth quarters.

Then, on the hour, every hour the low tone of E rings out.

It was Edmund Denison who chose the tune to be played on the four Quarter Bells. It is known as the Cambridge Quarters, as what was supposedly rung-out from the church of Great St. Mary’s in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.

It might be worth mentioning that a ton, in imperial measurement, and what was once known here in the UK as a British Ton, as well as lots of other places in the world, was/is equivalent to 1,016.047 kg or 2,240lbs.  A metric tonne, European talk, is equal to 1,000 kg or 2,204.6 lbs.  A USA ton is different again, of course.  I believe its 2,000 lbs - a short ton.

Is that clear?  About as clear as mud, yes!?  What is clear though, any ton is heavy and so is the Great Bell of Westminster.

The Ayrton Light.

The Ayrton Light sits above the Belfry. It is twelve feet high (12') and its Diameter is nine feet (9').  It is two hundred and fifty-four feet (254') high - from ground level. The installation of this light was first suggested by Acton Smee Ayrton M  P.He oversaw the final stages of the re-building work of the Palace of Westminster - because he was the First Commissioner of Works at that time. This light took some time to become a permanent structure due to expense, as well as, the trials and errors of the experimentation of the best form of light.  A lens was installed in 1892 - this enabled the light to shine in all possible directions, not just towards Buckingham Palace where Queen Victoria could keep an eye-on-it.  The Ayrton Light only shone when MP's where sitting late in the House of Commons. Not until 1903 did the Ayrton Light use electricity, as it does today.

Obviously, during the two Wars the Ayrton Light did not shine. and neither did the illuminated clock dial.  After World War II finished, from April 1945, the light was able to shine-out once again, when needed.

The Prison Room.

As stated above, there is a Prison Room inside Elizabeth Tower.  It is an oak-panelled room, of course.  Unfortunately though, for the visitors to the tower, this room can only be accessed from the House of Commons.  Last used in approximately 1880 for a Member of Parliament who was imprisoned by the Serjeant of Arms for not swearing allegiance in a religious oath to Queen Victoria. To this day, the Serjeant at Arms can still make arrests and they have had this authority to do so since the year 1415. The Prison Room is at present occupied by the Petitions Committee.  I wonder what they do?

There is so much info about the Prison Room.  For more go here to Victoria Tower and the UK Parliament Archives...

https://archives.blog.parliament.uk/2020/05/27/the-prison-room-of-elizabeth-tower/