Big Ben is London's famous clock tower. Technically Big Ben is the nickname for the bell specifically, not the tower itself. It was completed in 1859.
In Virginia Woolf's short story, "Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street" (1923), Big Ben is repeatedly referenced and helps mark the passage of time as Mrs. Dalloway goes about her day, but at the same time it marks a sort of somber or ominous reality, perhaps reflecting the theme of mortality that is introduced by references to the lives lost in WWI.
"Big Ben was striking as she stepped out into the street. It was eleven o'clock and the unused hour was fresh as if issued to children on a beach."
"Big Ben too is nothing but steel rods consumed by rust were it not for the care of H. M.'s Office of Works."
"Big Ben struck the tenth; struck the eleventh stroke. The leaden circles dissolved in the air."