The Olympic Bell, which Bradley Wiggins rung to signal the opening of the London 2012 Olympics, now hangs rather forlornly outside the London Stadium.
It is a monster of a bell that will, in all likelihood, hang hear for the rest of its days, never to be rung again. This seems to be a waste of a bell, to me, as a bell is designed and tuned to be rung.
Having never seen it up close I was shocked by the sheer size of it.
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| "Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises" - The Tempest |
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was commissioned to make the bell for the London 2012 Olympic Games, in September 2011. They finalised the design, kettering and tuning but found that no longer had the capability to cast such a massive bell. Controversially, they subcontracted the casting to Royal Eijsbouts, in the Netherlands. The Loughborough based Taylor's Bell Foundry, which had also tendered to the cast the bell, took exception at the bell being cast by a non-British company.
The framework, from which to hang the bell, and the hammer mechanism, which alone weighed a half-ton, were made by various companies. In total there were twenty different companies, from three countries, that brought the bell to completion.
