Who Will Fill The Silence Left By Big Ben?

Big Ben may have fallen silent for four years of renovations, but just yards away the Army is stood by to ensure Whitehall continues to run to time, and tradition is upheld. 

The Great Bell's noon bongs on Monday were the last before they were halted for maintenance, and tourists and traditionalists gathered outside the Palace of Westminster to witness the historic event.

The iconic sound of the Westminster chimes

“All through this hour, Lord be my guide, That by thy power, No foot shall slide”

and the distinctive “bongs” of Big Ben have regulated time and life in Whitehall for 157 years.

But prior to the construction of the current Houses of Parliament, all London took their time from another reliably accurate Whitehall clock: the clock on the tower above Horse Guards.

Horse Guards, the former Head Quarters of the British Army, is still a military Army HQ for London District and the Household Division, as well as one of London’s famous tourist attractions with its Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ceremonial soldiers and horses.

“The Horse Guards clock of mighty fame directs the dinner of each careful dame” ran the rhyme 200 years ago and the perennial accuracy of London’s once most exalted timepiece continues unabated today.

While Big Ben’s Westminster Great Clock may now be silenced, the Horse Guards clock will once more chime the hours for Government, unaccompanied by its younger rival.  

Horse Guards is the only clock in London to have both roman numerals for the hours and Arabic for the minutes on its dial. 

There is also a black mark of perennial shame by the 2 which indicates the time that King Charles I was executed in Whitehall outside the Banqueting House just opposite today’s Horse Guards.

The 13.7-tonne Great Bell of Westminster was last stopped for maintenance in 2007 and before that was halted for two years in 1983 for refurbishment but has been stopped on a number of other occasions since it first sounded in 1859. 

Parliamentary officials have insisted workers' hearing would be put at “serious risk” if the bell continued chiming. 

They warned that those using the 100-metre-high scaffolding around the tower could also be startled by the 118-decibel bongs.

The renovation includes the installation of a lift and repairs to the clock's hands, mechanism and pendulum.