Where has Little Ben in Victoria gone?

[Mrs Magpie]

It was a real shock to see it's disappeared.

All that's left is a bit of the base

 

[Maurice Picarda]

The Little Ben clock tower is scheduled to be temporarily removed as part of the upgrade works to Victoria Underground Station. It will be reinstated in its present position following the completion of the work.

http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/blogs/news/2011/08/31/wessex-archaeology-work-big-bens-little-brother

 

[Mrs Magpie]

That's a relief. I thought for an awful moment it had been nicked.

 

[lopsidedbunny]

So no Mr Strap Dealer then coming along to nick it for spare parts then

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/blogs/news/2011/08/31/wessex-archaeology-work-big-bens-little-brother

I never knew it was gone, but the station extension works would have been my first thought.

I've not been to Victoria for ages. Really must go to see how it's changed since I worked there

 

[boohoo]

Curiously when they were digging around it the other month, it looked like you could see bits of a corridor or room which was under that piece of pavement.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Curiously when they were digging around it the other month, it looked like you could see bits of a corridor or room which was under that piece of pavement.

Old disused tube tunnels/station maybe?

 

[boohoo]

Old disused tube tunnels/station maybe?

Could be - or toilets. Was a bit of white tiling on the walls.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Could be - or toilets. Was a bit of white tiling on the walls.

Could well be. Little islands like that often had public toilets on them before they all shut

Damn, I'm going to have to start googling now

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

hm, it's been there over 100 years and I've found no mention of loos yet

What about that Royal Mail tunnel. Wonder what the route for that is?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Map here

 

[pogofish]

PO tube was a lot deeper than this place.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

PO tube was a lot deeper than this place.

Oh well, just trying to come up with ideas.

Slight derail, but I came across this page. Victoria Street really got it during WWII

http://www.westendatwar.org.uk/page_id__169_path__0p2p.aspx

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Never knew about the French paying for its restoration

Little Ben, London Victoria

Little Ben is Big Ben's little brother. The miniature version of Big Ben was designed to replicate in a smaller form it's older brother. The resemblance is striking! It was removed in 1964 when the road was widened. In 1981 a French oil company paid for it to be restored and put back as a gesture of friendship from France to Britain. It sits in the middle of the junction of Victoria Street and Vauxhall Bridge Road. Many people walk past it every day without realising it is there. Others use it as a meeting point. To locals Little Ben is "part of the furniture" and sadly, as is the case with a lot of siblings, the younger one is always in the shadow of the older one.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Now what are those railings for?

 

[Greebo]

Now what are those railings for? <snip>

At a guess, public toilets, at basement level.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

At a guess, public toilets, at basement level.

I already said that earlier, but can't find any evidence of there having been loos

 

[Greebo]

I already said that earlier, but can't find any evidence of there having been loos

Pedestrian underground crossing then?

 

[quimcunx]

Now what are those railings for?

They look quite toilety railings, or possibly another entry to the tube station.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Pedestrian underground crossing then?

Don't know. Possibility.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Where exactly are the loos under Bressenden Place?

Found this:

It is anticipated that a number of buildings will be demolished during the
course of the works. For the purpose of this assessment it has been assume
all of the following will be demolished:
• 175 to 179 Victoria Street;
• 120 to 124 Victoria Street;
• 3 to 11 Bressenden Place;
• Subway and public lavatories under Bressenden Place;
• Roof structure for existing South Ticket Hall; and
• Elliot House.

I never used any of those subways

 

[Hilary at work]

Little Ben has been put into storage for the duration of the Victoria Station Upgrade (VSU) works, which include construction of a new Underground Ticket Hall at the junction of Bressenden Place and Victoria Street. This is due to open in Summer 2016, by which time Little Ben will have been reinstated. Further details about the Upgrade works are available on TfL's website: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/2359.aspx (or by googling 'Victoria Station Upgrade').

Interestingly an Ordnance Survey map of this area from the 1950s shows a "Lav" presumably referring to an underground public toilet, just to the South of the Little Ben Clock Tower, so maybe that's where the white tiles came from.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Thank you!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

But will they renamed Little Ben Little Elizabeth Tower?

 

[Hilary at work]

Little Ben is scheduled to be re-instated in June 2014 Apparently it has been returned to its makers for safe-keeping until then.

 

[19sixtysix]

It is not the only copy in London. There is the clock tower in south norwood

 

[Pickman's model]

But will they renamed Little Ben Little Elizabeth Tower?

of course not. it will be the betty tower.

 

[Guineveretoo]

I walk past the clock at Victoria station pretty much every work day on my way home, and I go past the South Norwood one almost as many times, yet I never knew that one was a copy of the other!

 

[RoyReed]

They don't look that much like the real thing when you look more closely, but I wonder how many Gillett & Johnson made of that model and whether they made the not dissimilar one in Brockwell Park.

 

[Guineveretoo]

Oh gosh, I didn't know that it was called "Little Ben" after that tower, either (just to be pedantic, it's the bell which is Big Ben, not the clocktower, but that doesn't detract from my ignorance).

Fancy there being one in the Seychelles, just like the one near my house, but painted white