The famous chimes of Big Ben will ring out for the first time since the new year.

Big Ben’s world-famous bongs were temporarily silenced in August last year for the safety of workers involved in a four-year restoration scheme.

The chimes are only being reactivated for special occasions until the work programme is completed, including over Christmas last year.

Big Ben will ring out again between 8pm and 10pm on Thursday to test the bell ahead of Remembrance Sunday and New Year’s Eve.

Big Ben repairs
Workers at the top of scaffolding erected around the Elizabeth Tower during ongoing conservation works at the Houses of Parliament. (PA/Victoria Jones)

Labour MP Stephen Pound, who has led a backlash against the silencing of the bells, was in Parliament to hear the rare chimes.

The Ealing North MP, who wiped away a tear as Big Ben was muted last year, said: “Remembrance Sunday is a solemn occasion and the sonorous sound of the bells will certainly add to the sense of occasion.

“I salute the courage of the Bell Master who agreed to let this happen and let the chimes of freedom ring out again over the city.”

The Elizabeth Tower, home to the Great Clock and the Great Bell – known as Big Ben – is undergoing a complex programme of conservation works to safeguard it for generations to come.

Parliament’s team of clock mechanics temporarily disconnected Big Ben and the quarter bells from the clock mechanism and lowered the weights to the base of the tower in order to provide a safe environment for the people working in the Elizabeth Tower.

A bespoke electric mechanism has been built to power the 200kg striking hammer in order to ensure the Great Bell can mark Remembrance Sunday and New Year’s Eve.

Only the Great Bell – Big Ben – will strike. The quarter bells will not chime.

  • The Great Bell (Big Ben), weighs 13.7 tonnes and is struck with a 200kg hammer. It produces musical note E when struck. It measures 2.7, across and is 2.2m high.
  • The Clock Tower was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012, to honour the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
  • There are 334 steps to the belfry in the tower.
  • The Elizabeth Tower was constructed using 2,600 cubic metres of brick and 850 cubic metres of stone, which were transported to Westminster by river.
  • Each clock dial features a cast iron frame holding 312 pieces of pot opal glass, which is being replaced.
  • As the clock mechanism itself has been dismantled for conservation work, a modern electric motor will drive the clock hands until the Great Clock is reinstated.
  • The clock began keeping time for the nation on 31 May 1859.