Big Ben’s Bell to Toll for No One Once Repair Work Begins
Big Ben, which didn’t miss its hourly bell once during World War II bombings, will be silenced temporarily for repairs.
Although the clock will continue to run uninterrupted, the hourly bell will be stopped for 12 weeks, and the quarter-hourly “Westminster” chimes for two days, Government Minister Christopher Chope said Wednesday.
A mechanism needs replacing because of age, said Chope, the minister responsible for the Property Services Agency that looks after the clock. The faulty mechanism, the hammer arm that strikes the hour, will have to be removed so a replica can be made. Chope said work will begin March 26.
Big Ben has been keeping time since 1859. It is stopped twice a year when Britain goes on and off daylight saving time. In October, it stopped for three hours because of a mechanical fault.
In 1976 a piece of metal broke off the clockworks, forcing the hourly bell to be silenced for 22 days and the chimes for several months. The keepers of the clock said get-well cards addressed to Big Ben arrived from all over the world.
The BBC, which normally carries live chimes from Big Ben on its radio newscasts, said it will use a different time signal during the repair period.
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