The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-19 00:00:00

THE GREAT BELL OF WESTMINSTER,

As, doubtless, the greater part of London is
aware, the great bell addressed his vast audience
from the clock tower for the first time yesterday.
It is now just two years since we devoted a long
article to a description of this bell and his lofty
residence. Since then the poor bell has passed
through hard vicissitudes. Ile has been broken up
and melted down, but comes out after all. as Mrs.
Gamp says, " like gold as has been tried in the
furnidge," a purer and a better bell than ever was
anticipated at the ill-omened commencement of his
career. The present great occupant of the belfry is
more than two tons hghter than his predecessor,
whose voice was choked so suddenly in the courtyard
some 300 feet below. The old bell weighed 15 tons 18
cwt. 1 qr. 221 b. ; the new one is 13 tons lOcwt. 3 qrs.
and besides this improvement in weight and tone
the new one is in other respects of ornamentation
and design a far more imposing object than the
plain-looking metal hemisphere from which it
sprung. In the long dispute which at one time
waged between Mr. Denison and Mr. Dent on the
one hand, and the Board of Works on the other,
when the latter bodyresorted to legal opinions and
Parliamentary papers to get rid of Mr. Denison
and Mr. Dent together, the whole affair of the clock
and bells stood still, for the "Board," who seemed
then to labour under an unusually strong fit of de-
rangement, declined to " correspond" with Mr.
Denison on the subject at all. It was during this
crisis that either the clock shaft of the tower was
built too small for the clock and bells, or the bells
were made too large for the clock shaft; for when
the dimensions of the first bell were fixed Upon it
was found that he could only be got up the tower
on his side—a mode that increased the difficulty of
getting him up at all. _The whole clock tower is
divided into nine stories, exclusive of the clock-
room, bell-chamber, and lanterns. Each of these
stories is subdivided into four, and sometimes many
more apartments, which run parallel with the four
faces of the tower. The inside space (within these
rooms) is 28 feet square, and is occupied, first, by
an air-shaft, 8 feet wide, for ventilating the whole
Palace ; and, secondly, by the clock-shaft—a small
inner tower of brick. The latter is 16ft. high by
lift. long, and Bft. 6in. wide. This is the shaft ou
whose summitthe works of the clock will stand, and
down which its weights will hang, and this is the
narrow opening up which the great bell has re-
cently been hoisted to the belfry above the clock
chamber. It follows, however, as a matter of course,
that, as the bell is nine feet six inches in diameter
in
ches
high, the mouth, though only [seven feet ten
high, it had to be taken up lying on its side length-
ways in the shaft. The scaffolding for raising ',it
was fixed above the belfry in the lantern—a net-
work of beams of the most massive kind, as may be

guessed when we say that 100 tons of timber
were used in its construction. A powerful
" crab " which had been used to haul up all
the materials of the tower itself, was used to

raise London's great tongue to its final resting-place .
The chain employed was 1,500 feet long, and had
been tested to a strain of 10 tons, which, as it was
seven times doubled, made it quite equal to a
burden of 100 tons. A powerful cradle of timber
its
side, constructed, in which the bell was laid on
side, and the operation of winding up at once com-
menced. It was continued day and night, occupy-
ing eight men -32 hours, Mr. Quarm, as usual,
superintending the whole operation with the same
indefatigable care and skill which he has devoted
to the construction of the tower throughout. When
up the main difficulty of the whole job commenced
—namely, that of raising the bell from its side and
slinging it, mouth 'downwards, in its proper posi-
tion. This occupied several days, as the greatest
care was necessary to prevent the monstrous mass
from swinging with a sudden jerk. It was, how-
ever, most carefully managed, ' and in a short
time afterwards the bell was fixed without accident
in a chamber where we trust .it is to hang for
centuries to come. The belfry of the tower is
high above the clock chamber and dial rooms,
whence, in the midst of light stone arched open-
ings and gilded fretwork, the lantern springs.
Here, high over smoky roofs and far removed from
the din of streets below, the iron voices of the
tatetrotolis are to dwell far ever., The mechanism
by which the great bell and its four smaller satel-
lites are hung is very simple, yet admirably adapted
to its purpose. A massive square collar of wrought
iron boiler-plate goes round the chamber, about 14
feet from the floor, and about two feet distant from
the side walls. This is supported by 12 cast-iron
standards, two at each corner, and one main beam
on each side of the tower, and each of which, rest-
ing on the masonry of the walls, leans out at an
inclination of 15 degrees, and meets the collar.
Pads of vulcanised indiarubber between the collar
and the standards check vibration, while iron
rollers at the base of the standards themselves
allow the whole to play freely. The bottom of the
standards, besides, is firmly bound together with
wrought-iron tie-rods, in order to prevent' a lateral
thrust in the outer walls of the tower.
Crossing the collar at right angles, and bolted
to it, are two massive wrought-iron beams, one of
which has been tested to 75 tons weight, and only
deflected one-fifth of an inch. To this the great
bell. is bolted, and is as rigid as part of the tower
itself. In the four corners, and similarly supported
by wrought-iron bars, are the quarter bells. The
first is a ton heavier than that of St. Paul's. It is
6 feet in diameter, weighs 41 tons, and its note is
B. The second is 4 feet 7 inches in diameter, 2
tons weight, and its note E.- • The third is 3 feet
11 inches in diameter! 11-tons weight, and its note
is F ; and the fourth is 3 feet 7 inches in diameter,
23 cwt. in weight, with_a note G. All the bells
are fitted with hammers ; but the great Bell in
addition has a clapper of 6 cwt., which will be
tolled upon the great occasion of a nation's mourn-
ing, and which, therefore, we trust, after the trial
of 'yesterday, may not be heard for many and
many a year to come.. Except Mr. Denison, Mr.
Taylor, and one or two gentlemen interested in the
trial, none were present in the belfry yesterday, and
climb the strongary stairs by which
interest would
induce indeed,
a visitor nothing
to
t N'
the summit of the tower is gained. In-the clock
' chamber little has been altered lately—the same
forges which were there 12 months ago seem still
in use, and the same ponderous machinery of coun-
ter weights still marks where the minute hands are
attached to the four dial plates outside. From
here, looking up through the massive beams above,
you catch dim glimpses of a huge iron dome. This
is the great Bell, vast and gloomy-looking, as be-
comes the time-keeper of a great city, and one
which shall only cease to record the flying hours
when it announces that time has ceased for ever
with the greatest of the land. Still the steps go
up beyond this chamber for many a weary turn,
till at last they emerge in the belfry beneath the
chimes—a dull cold place, where the wind blusters
in and out at will, humming mournfully amid the
ironwork, whistling and rushing down the dark
well stairs, and banging. to the doors below with a
hollow sound that comes booming slowly up the
tower like peals of thunder. Here, grim-looking,
cold, and stern, as becomes the presiding genii of
such a place, hung the bells that are to make the
laws of time for this metropolis.
The great beil only was tried yesterday, and not
with the hammer, but with the clapper we have
mentioned. The first few strokes were feebly given
to see that all was clear about the- monster, and,
this fact being satisfactorily ascertained, some men
were set to work to pull down the tarpaulings
which hung round the arches of the bell chamber
to protect the workmen from the keen wind, but
which on this occasion would have kept in the
sound sufficiently to half-deafen all in the tower.
It was impossible, however, to remove a wooden
hoarding on the north side of the temporary wooden
roof eirJrthe bell, so that the trial was made under
certain disadvantages. The rope of the clapper was
then passed down to the clock chamber, where Mr.
Denison, setting to work with a will, made the bell
speak in tones not likely to be forgotten soon by
those who heard them in the belfry. The first
stroke was slight, but afterwards it came peal after
peal in a tremendous volume of sound that was
actually painful. It seemed to swell and grow upon
the air with a vibration that thrilled every bone in
t' .e l'stmer's body with a painfu. feeling, 'becoming
louder and louder with each gigantic clang, till one
shrunk from the awful reverberations as from
something tangible and dangerous to meet. Many
went upon the balustrade outside the chamber to
avoid the waves of sound that seemed eddying
round' the tower ; but the escape was only a partial
relief, the great din seeming almost to penetrate
the stone work of the battlements, and jar the very
place in which one stood.
The 'first strokes seemed to create an immenso
sensation in the streets below, and upturned
faces, dotted all over Palace-yard, amid the
rows of cabs, that looked as little as perambu-
lators, with a good sprinkling of loungers who
came out from 'Westminster-hall, at once showed
the interest thatwas taken in the great bell's maiden
speech. After the first attempt by Mr. Denison
the bell was struck slower but with greater.
force by two or three workmen, and this elwited

the whole of his tremendous tones to the greatest
extent, till the sound `vas something almost awful,
floating about the tower and slowly dying away
like the note of a soft trumpet, till it sunk to a
deep rich hum that hung about the bell long after
the stroke had ceased. In Palace-yard, or still
better in the Park, the harshness and uproar of
the notes were modulated to a heavy deep and
rather melancholy sound, not less solemn than those
of St. Paul's, but infinitely fuller and grander.
These experiments were not made with a view of
ascertaining either the fitness or tone of the bell.
These have been fully known long ago, and his
note, of course, is E. The main object was to test
how the collar and standards withstood the stroke,
and whether they required additional fastening.
The result of the first one or two blows upon the
bell put this at rest. The bell being rigid acted
like a lever upon the collar when it was struck, and
made both that and the standards work to a degree
that was unpleasant to witness. The clapper was
then struck in a direction parallel with the main
iron beam supporting the bell, but when heavily
sounded in this manner the concussion seemed even
worse, and made the cast-iron standards vibrate in
the centre like tightened cords. This last experi-
ment was considered final, and the necessity for
increased supports to the standards were at once
apparent. We believe that these strengthening,s
will consist of wrought iron brackets passing from
the collar down the-main standards, which, while
allowing enough play for the whole mechanism,
will check the jerk of the collar on the standards,
and -stop a vibration which would otherwise be
dangerous to the cast-iron. When this has been
done-the clock will be hoisted to its place, and the
bells at last left to their long duties.