Big Ben
The clang in a thousand establishing shots comes from a cracked bell that's rung slightly off-key since 1859.
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The 96 m (316 ft) Elizabeth Tower anchors the north end of the Palace of Westminster. Its quarter-hour Westminster chimes returned in November 2022 after five silent years of restoration.
What to look for
- The "4" on each dial reads IV, not the IIII of most Roman-numeral clock dials.
- The Ayrton Light above the belfry — lit only when the House of Commons sits after dark.
- Under each face, the Latin line: DOMINE SALVAM FAC REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRIMAM.
"Big Ben" is really the 13.5-ton bell inside; the tower is Elizabeth Tower (renamed 2012). Frame the whole thing from Westminster Bridge.
Big Ben is one of 40 sights worth the detour in London, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the London pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in London
- British MuseumThe room where a dead language got its voice back — and you walk in for free.
- Buckingham PalaceThe balcony where a whole country turns up to watch a family wave — with 775 rooms behind it.
- Westminster AbbeyNearly every English monarch since 1066 has been crowned on the same worn patch of floor.
- Tower of LondonWilliam the Conqueror's keep turned royal prison, where two queens lost their heads and the Crown Jewels still sit under guard.
- Tower BridgeA Victorian drawbridge dressed as a Gothic castle, its roadway still splitting open for passing ships.
- Palace of WestminsterA working parliament whose rules, by tradition, still assume MPs might draw swords on each other.