Big Ben

What it is

Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, and, by extension, for the clock tower that stands at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England. Originally named the Clock Tower, the structure was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The clock is a striking clock with five bells. The tower was designed by Augustus Pugin and Sir Charles Barry in the Perpendicular Gothic style and was completed in 1859.

Key facts

What it is

cultural icon, national symbol, striking clock source

Created

1843-09-28, 1858-04-10 source

Country

United Kingdom source

Located in

City of Westminster source

Architect

Augustus Pugin, Charles Barry source

Made from

Caen stone, limestone source

Height

96 m source

Origin and history

Elizabeth Tower, originally named the Clock Tower, and popularly known as "Big Ben", was built as a part of Charles Barry's design for a new Palace of Westminster after the old palace was largely destroyed by fire on 16 October 1834. Although Barry was the chief architect of the neo-gothic palace, he turned to Augustus Pugin for the design of the Clock Tower, which resembles earlier designs by Pugin, including one for Scarisbrick Hall, a country house in Lancashire. Construction of the tower began on 28 September 1843.

How it is made

Completed in 1859, the tower is designed in Pugin's Gothic Revival style and is 316 feet (96.3 m) high, making it the third-tallest clock tower in Britain. Its dials (at the centre) are 180 feet (54.9 m) above ground level. Its base is square, measuring 40 feet (12.2 m) on each side, resting on concrete foundations 12 feet (3.7 m) thick.

The story behind the name and label

Journalists during Queen Victoria's reign called it St Stephen's Tower. As members of Parliament originally sat at St Stephen's Hall, these journalists referred to anything related to the House of Commons as "news from St Stephens". The Palace does contain a feature called St Stephen's Tower, located above the public entrance. The origin of the nickname "Big Ben" has been the subject of some debate. The nickname was applied first to the Great Bell, and there is debate as to whether it was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who as Minister for Public Works oversaw the installation of the Great Bell, or after the English heavyweight boxing champion Ben Caunt, who had also been nicknamed "Big Ben". Nonetheless, several newspapers from the late 1850s suggested that the name was originally a reference to Hall.

Fun facts

The clock has become a cultural symbol of the United Kingdom, particularly in the visual media. When a television or film-maker wishes to indicate a generic location in the country, a popular way to do so is to show an image of the tower, often with a red double-decker bus or black cab in the foreground. In 2008 a survey of 2,000 people found that the tower was the most popular landmark in Britain.