London’s Big Ben On the Verge of Sinking

London’s Big Ben On the Verge of Sinking

London — Big Ben, the world renowned British landmark, has been report to be already leaning to an extent that is visible to the naked eye, according to the commissioned report by the Parliamentary Estates Department and the London Underground. The 96-meter high Houses of Parliament clock tower also known as the Big Ben has been discovered to be sinking to the ground unevenly causing it to lean to the northwest direction.

The tilt is now very visible. Quite a few tourists already gave remarks that the tower is somewhat not vertical. They are just right, according to John Burland. Burland is the senior research investigator and emeritus professor at London’s Imperial College. He said that if you are standing on Parliament Square, you will notice the tower is leaning by looking eastward to the river’s direction.

Since 2003, the reported tilting of the Big Ben has increased to 0.9 mm per year as compared to its average rate of around 0.65 mm per year. Burland has worried because the level of tilting is not anymore considered safe. If ever the titling would continue and accelerate more, I think the government should do something but currently it’s too early for that undertaking, Burland added. Underground developments in the area for several years have contributed to Big Ben’s tilting. Big Ben was successfully constructed in 1858.

Posted by Kade Quinn on Tuesday October 11 2011, 4:29 AM EST. Ref: CNN. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Travel. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0