Where is Big Ben?
Big Ben is in London, United Kingdom, in Europe. The game uses the reference point shown below: 51.5007°, -0.1246°. A guess within 25 km earns the full distance score before any hint deduction.
The pin marks Elizabeth Tower at Westminster, not the centre of the entire parliamentary complex.
Map loading. Coordinates: 51.5007°, -0.1246°.
The story behind the landmark
The Great Clock began running in May 1859, and the great bell first sounded that July. The present bell was a replacement after an earlier casting cracked during testing. It too developed a crack, but a change to its position and hammer allowed it to sound again.
Architect Augustus Pugin designed the clock tower as part of Charles Barry’s reconstruction of the Palace of Westminster. The tower’s architectural role and the clock’s mechanical role are closely connected: its large faces were made prominent in the design, while the mechanism had to cope with pressure from wind on the hands.
How to recognise it
- Large circular clock faces sit on each side near the top.
- Gothic stone ornament frames the clocks and upper openings.
- A steep dark roof and pinnacles rise above the clock stage.
Look twice: a useful comparison
Separate the object’s names: the tower is Elizabeth Tower, the clock is the Great Clock and the bell is Big Ben. Other cities have Gothic clock towers, so also examine the adjoining palace. A cropped clock face by itself cannot securely identify London.
A detail worth remembering
Small pre-decimal pennies help regulate the pendulum. Adding one makes the clock run slightly faster. It is an unexpectedly modest adjustment for such a large mechanism, and a reminder that this landmark is a working piece of engineering as well as architecture.
