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1844 |
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A competition for The New Palace of Westminster was won by Sir Charles Barry. Contract for the clock (eventually) given to Frederick Dent. Barry had specified 8 bells with a 14-ton hour bell; he then confessed that he knew nothing about bells (or clocks) and the Astronomer-Royal, G.B. Airey, was called in as Referee. In due course, E.B. Denison, M.P., later Q.C., later Sir Edmund Beckett, Bt., and later the First Lord Grimthorpe, was called in as co-referee. All were to regret the choice, but the nation owes the clock, the bells and the selection of the Cambridge Quarters to him. |
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1854 |
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The clock was completed in Dent’s works (where it remained for five years). |
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1855 |
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The bells were put out to tender. Charles & George Mears refused because of the harsh words said about their Royal Exchange bells of 1844/5; John Taylor & Son wanted too much of both money and time. John Warner & Sons were successful. The Great Bell and the largest Quarter Bell were to be cast in Norton, Co. Durham as Cripplegate had restricted furnace capacity. |
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1856 |
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On 6 Aug the Great Bell was cast at Norton. It later came (by sea, on a ship which nearly sank) to London, and was “brought to Westminster on a great trolley drawn by sixteen gaily bedecked horses before the gaze of such a crowd as normally turns out for a public execution”. It was indeed duly hung on a scaffold and subjected to daily testing with a hammer weighing over 10 cwt, which drove MP’s mad and the locals to drink. |
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1857 |
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The 4th quarter bell was invoiced on 1 Feb. The 1st and 2nd quarter bells were invoiced on 3 Sept. Later in Sept the testing caused Big Ben to crack. Warner’s estimate for recasting was refused as too expensive, though they still recast their 3rd quarter bell which was subjected to tests and found unsound. The mould was started at Whitechapel for a new Great Bell on 18 Dec. |
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1858 |
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The old bell was broken on between 18-25 Feb. By 31 Mar the mould for the new Great Bell was completed. Pre-heating of the mould commenced on 9 Apr, and Big Ben II was cast at 7:33pm on Sat 10 Apr. The new bell was invoiced out on 9 May and subsequently taken to Westminster in another great procession. [1] |
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1859 |
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The great clock was started on 31 May and the bells started the chime the quarters and hours on 11 July. On 29 Aug Big Ben II cracked for half its depth under the 8 cwt clapper (which was twice the weight Mears had requested). The 4th quarter bell was consequently used to strike the hours. |
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1862 |
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Big Ben was 1/8 turned, the hammer was reduced to 4 cwt (as at present) and Big Ben and the Cambridge Quarters rang out as we know them today. |
