LONDON — The keeper of the Great Clock announced Monday that London’s Big Ben hour bell will be silenced for four long years as desperately needed repairs are carried out on the 158-year-old timepiece, a masterwork of Victorian ingenuity and an enduring British icon.

Londoners were not happy to hear the news, and there was lament on Twitter, with many recalling how the hourly bongs of Big Ben serve as a base note for their lives.

‘‘A silent Big Ben will be super eerie,’’ tweeted Rob, a history student at King’s College. ‘‘I could hear the chimes from my room in Euston, they’re the sound of London!’’

‘‘It will be very sad, but it needs to be done,’’ said Kirsten Hurrell, 71, a news agent who runs a busy stall that faces the clock tower.

The Great Clock is atop Elizabeth Tower along the Thames River. The Palace of Westminster, home to the houses of Parliament, is one of the top five visited sites in London, and Big Ben is the star of the show.

The tower will soon be fully swaddled in metal scaffolding and three of the four clock dials covered. The last gongs of Big Ben, before its long rest, will ring out at noon Aug. 21.

Washington Post