Houses of parliament
It is probably named, after Sir Benjamin Hall,
the first Commissioner of Works. Big Ben is very heavy. It weights over 13 tons. The
clock mechanism, alone, weights about 5 tons. The figures on the clock face are about
2 feet long.
Charles Barry's design incorporated a clock tower. The dials were to be thirty
feet in diameter, the quarter chimes were to be struck on eight bells, and the hours
were to be struck on a 14 ton bell. Barry invited Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy, a
clockmaker of reputation, to submit a design and price for constructing such a clock.
No doubt Vulliamy was pleased to be the clockmaker of choice for what was then to
be the largest clock in the world, but other enterprising firms were not happy with the
manner in which they had no opportunity to compete for the contract. Subsequently,
the Astronomer Royal, Sir George Airy, was appointed as referee for the new clock
and produced a specification in 1846
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