Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, and is often extended to refer to the clock or the clock tower as well.Big Ben is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third-tallest free-standing clock tower in the world.It celebrated its 150th anniversary in May 2009 (the clock itself first ticking on 31 May 1859), during which celebratory events took place.

The nearest London Underground station is Westminster on the Circle, District and Jubilee lines.

A clock tower was built at Westminster in 1288, with the fine-money of Ralph Hengham, Chief Justice of the King's Bench.

The present tower was raised as a part of Charles Barry's design for a new palace, after the old Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire on the night of 16 October 1834.

http://www.visitingdc.com/images/big-ben-picture-3.jpg
http://www.visitingdc.com/london/big-ben-picture.asp

The new Parliament was built in a Neo-gothic style. Although Barry was the chief architect of the Palace, he turned to Augustus Pugin for the design of the clock tower, which resembles earlier Pugin designs, including one for Scarisbrick Hall. The design for the Clock Tower was Pugin's last design before his final descent into madness and death, and Pugin himself wrote, at the time of Barry's last visit to him to collect the drawings: "I never worked so hard in my life for Mr Barry for tomorrow I render all the designs for finishing his bell tower & it is beautiful."The tower is designed in Pugin's celebrated Gothic Revival style, and is 96.3 metres (315.9 ft) high (roughly 16 stories).

The bottom 61 metres (200 ft) of the Clock Tower's structure consists of brickwork with sand coloured Anston limestone cladding. The remainder of the tower's height is a framed spire of cast iron. The tower is founded on a 15-metre (49 ft) square raft, made of 3-metre (9.8 ft) thick concrete, at a depth of 4 metres (13 ft) below ground level. The four clock faces are 55 metres (180 ft) above ground. The interior volume of the tower is 4,650 cubic metres (164,200 cubic feet).

Despite being one of the world's most famous tourist attractions, the interior of the tower is not open to the general public due to security concerns,although from time to time press and other VIPs are granted access. However, the tower has no elevator, so those escorted must climb the 334 limestone stairs to the top.

Because of changes in ground conditions since construction (notably tunnelling for the Jubilee Line extension), the tower leans slightly to the north-west, by roughly 220 millimetres (8.66 in) at the clock face, giving an inclination of approximately 1/250. Due to thermal effects it oscillates annually by a few millimetres east and west.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben

Map : (click + zoom in , click - zoom out , click arrow : up , down , left , right)

Details from the search :

Big Ben - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Clock Tower at dusk, with The London Eye in the background ..... UK Parliament – The Clock Tower (Big Ben): Facts and figures Accessed 13 July 2007 ...
Tower - Clock - Bells - Nickname
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben

Big Ben Clock, Big Ben in London, Big Ben Clock Tower, Big Ben ...
Find information about the Big Ben Clock Tower in London and get details of the Big Ben Clock, as well as the history of the Big Ben Clock Tower.
www.destination360.com › Destinations › Europe › UK

Big Ben on AboutBritain.com
Big Ben is one of London's best-known landmarks, and looks most spectacular at night ... The name Big Ben actually refers not to the clock-tower itself, ...
www.aboutbritain.com/BigBen.htm

Photos/Pictures of Big Ben Clock Tower
Big Ben Clock Tower. London, England. (There are 20 images on this page.) ... bens, big, big ben, cities, england, english, europe, london ...
www.danheller.com/london-bigben.html

Big Ben London
Big Ben the 320 foot high Clock Tower is named after the largest bell, ... and was cast in 1858 at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in East London. ...
www.beautiful-london.co.uk/big-ben.htm

Big Ben clock tower at London England's Parliament building ...
Big Ben clock tower - London England, pictures and history.
www.inetours.com/England/London/pages/Big_Ben.html

Big Ben - London Travel and tourism information
Big Ben The famous clock tower of the Palace of Westminster houses the bell known as Big Ben, a London landmark for generations. ...
www.britainexpress.com › London Travel Guide › Attractions

Big Ben, London
The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster, known as the Big Ben, is one of London's most famous landmarks. Big Ben, London. Big Ben. "The Clock Tower of ...
www.aviewoncities.com › London › London Attractions

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament Webcam, London
Our Big Ben webcam is one of our most popular London webcams. ... The name Big Ben actually refers not to the clock-tower itself, but to the thirteen ton ...
www.camvista.com/england/london/bigben.php3

London's Big Ben Clock Tower « London Travelogue
23 Apr 2009 ... londontravelogue added an interesting post today on London Big Ben Clock Tower. London Travelogue; a small reading The great grand bell of ...
londontravelogue.wordpress.com/.../london’s-big-ben-clock-tower/

Timeline results for big ben clock tower london
1858
It ls called "Big Ben" after Sir Benja? min Hall, who was First Commissioner of Works when the clock was installed in 1858. The clock tower i3 ...
ll02.nla.gov.au
1859
Famous around the world for keeping impeccable time, the Big Ben Clock Tower was fully operational on September 7th, 1859. MORE. Jul 24 2009 ...
www.chacha.com

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