Little Ben is a nickname for the clock tower in Fisherton Street.
The clock tower was built in 1892 by a Dr John Roberts. He had the tower built as a memorial for his wife, who had died the previous year. I’ve not been able to find out anything further about John Roberts, I’m afraid.
The tower was built on the corner of the site of Fisherton gaol – the picture below shows a stone in the base of the tower with a carving of some manacles.
Update: As mentioned in one of the comments, since publishing this post, an excellent article by Keith Blake on the Clock Tower has appeared in the 2010 Sarum Chronicle.
The Cross Keys Bookshop keeps back issues of the Chronicle, or it will be in the Reference Library, or you can get it from Amazon by clicking on the image or link below
 
|
Sarum Chronicle: 10: The History of Salisbury and Its District – the Clock Tower, Quakerism, Girl-Guiding, 150 years of Salisbury Museum |
Please could you let me know who is responsible for the maintenance of the clock-tower.
Since I wrote this post the Sarum Chronicle has published a really good article on the Clock Tower. It’s called ‘Dr Roberts Clock Tower’, written by Keith Blake and it’s in the 2010 issue.
According to Mr Blake’s article, the clock tower was a gift to the city from Dr Roberts.
Salisbury Town Council was responsible for deciding on the location, design and building of the tower, but they seemed to have sought Dr Roberts approval at various stages.
The same company, Smith of Derby, has been responsible for maintaining the workings of the clock since it was built in 1893.
The exterior was renovated by R Moulding and Co in 1997.
As to who is now responsible for the upkeep of the Tower, I’m afraid I don’t know. I would presume that it’s either the Salisbury City Council or Wiltshire Council. I’ll try to find out.
When I last asked about maintenance of the tower in 2010 I got the impression that it was the responsibility of SCC , who would invite tenders for the work in the normal way, but the unitary authority had only recently been formed and things may have changed since then. Thank you for the kind remarks about the article, by the way – I had lots of help from the editors!