Skip to content

Cumbrian clock company ticks on with Big Ben restoration

BBC Big Ben clock faceBBC
The clock has been entirely stripped of its parts

A Cumbrian clock company has spent the past three years restoring what is probably the most famous clock in the world.

Big Ben, the timepiece on Queen Elizabeth Tower in Westminster, has been entirely stripped out as part of the tower's £80m refurbishment.

More than 1,000 parts were shipped to a workshop in Dacre.

Workers at the Cumbria Clock Company said they felt privileged to have been entrusted with the task.

Barrel of the clock
The barrel, which plays the famous Westminster chimes, weighs about 860 kilos

The famous London attraction has been largely silent since 2017, although it has been reconnected for significant occasions such as the UK's departure from the EU and Remembrance Day.

The restoration has been delayed by the pandemic, but the mechanism is soon due to be re-installed.

Keith Scobie-Youngs, director of Cumbria Clock Company, said: "They say pressure is a privilege and we feel very privileged to work on this."

He added: "I feel everyone here can do the nation proud by making sure that this clock lasts another 160 years."

Keith Scobie-Youngs
Keith Scobie-Youngs said that testing the ticking of the clock was "soothing"

Horologist Mark Crangle added: "It's the most well known and the most important clock... so it's a privilege to be under that pressure and to be trusted with that pressure.

"It's strange to see all the bits here in the workshop, so it'll be nice to say when it all goes back that I've had a part in that.

"I just hope there's no bits left over at the end of it."

Coins used to regulate the pendulum
The coins are used on the drop of the pendulum to speed the clock up by a fifth of a second a week

Mr Scobie-Youngs said: "We've had the heart of the UK ticking away in this testing shop.

"It's very comforting. Just when life is getting a little bit stressful you can go into the testing room and sit beside this clock."

Mr Scobie-Youngs added that he was pleased the London landmark would now have a local legacy.

"A clock always absorbs a bit of the person working on it and Cumbria will now be linked to this clock forever.

"And in 160 years' time when people are researching the clock they will talk about the first big restoration and how it took place in a small village in Cumbria."

Clock company
"A little part of Cumbria" will now be in Big Ben
Presentational grey line

Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].