I hate reading this kind of news - I believe that any society needs a healthy combination of history and tradition, mixed with the new and contemporary, but sometimes instead of running side by side, one replaces the other.
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry that made both Big Ben and the Liberty Bell is closing. The Guiness Book of World Records lists the company as the oldest manufacturing firm in Britain, formed in 1570, during the reign of Elizabeth I. It moved to its current location in Whitechapel over 300 years ago.
Big Ben is the name of the bell in the Elizabeth Tower (formerly St Stephen's Tower) at the Houses of Parliament. The foundry cast Big Ben - the hour bell of Augustus Pugin's Great Clock of Westminster - which weighs 13.5 tons and is 7 ft high and has a diameter of 10 ft.
According to records, transporting Big Ben the few miles from the foundry to the Houses of Parliament was a major event. Traffic was stopped as the bell, mounted on a trolley drawn by sixteen brightly beribboned horses, made its way over London Bridge to Westminster. The bells first rang out across London on May 31st 1859.
Unfortunately, new churches aren't being built, but Britons love the sound of church bells, so work continues on replacements and maintenance of the older bells. The company has diversified in recent years, making traditional doorbells for those restoring older properties, as well as small table bells being ordered by American fans of Downton Abbey, so they can ring for tea.
Although Big Ben was cast in 1858, the foundry had previously cast the original Liberty Bell in 1742, as well as the bells for St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney and the National Cathedral in Washington DC, St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in London.
For more details - and some great photos - check out:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3993440/Owners-famous-Whitechapel-Bell-Foundry-Big-Ben-cast-reveal-close-retirement-ending-connection-East-End-dating-250-years.html
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