Do you live near a church with an hourly bell ring?

[weemouse]

Hi,
We are thinking about moving house and found a lovely property in a near by village. The house is around 300m from the church and I did hear the bell ring at around 4:00pm on a visit, so I'm assuming it's an hourly ring.

I've email the church contact to ask for a schedule of the bell ringing and wanted to ask for anyone's experience of living within hearing distance.

Did it annoy you at weekends, nights? Do you just get used to it and not really hear it through today's double glazing?

Any input appreciated, it's a lovely property and I don't want this to be a negative.
Thanks

I grew up a stone’s throw from a church with a clock that chimed every hour including through the night. It never bothered me, and when I go back now, I notice it slightly, but it doesn’t bother me at all, and never wakes me at night.

Depends on the type of bell and when it rings. My experience has been - pleasant bell during daytime/early evening - absolutely fine. Nice to hear throughout the day, marking time. Bell that sounded like a hammer on a metal bucket, ringing from 6 in the morning - awful. Bell ringing all night on the hour and half-hour - torturous.

I used to live near a church with hourly bell, I liked it. Personally I switch off to sounds that don’t bother me, but ones that irritate will drive me completely crazy, and Ill imagine I can hear it even if I can’t.

I do. Can't hear it through double glazing but hear it when the windows are open. It chimes for each hour which isn't good when I've got insomnia and trying to get back to sleep, luckily not very often. Other than that we don't really notice it.
It has its advantages when I'm in the garden and need to know what time it is without going inside.

I do and to be honest I don't even hear it anymore. It's just a noise you get used to.

I used to live less than 100m from a church that rang hourly, including at night. You definitely get used to it.
But visitors were always bothered by it waking them at night. They’d often ask how I managed to get any decent sleep.

Yes. We live about 100m from the bell tower! It dongs on the hour day and night and has never bothered me. Relatives always look a bit tired in the mornings if they stay over though 😂.
Bell-ringing practice is once a week one evening from about 7:30-9pm and then they ring from 9-9:30 for church on Sundays. There are a few other occasions (weddings, funerals, New Years, Queen's Jubilee etc.). It's noticeable but not enough to drown out the TV etc.
Of course they've not been ringing at all this last year due to Covid (impossible to social distance in the bell tower) and I've rather missed it. The clock still dongs though.

I did briefly. Never bothered me and was useful in the depths of winter if you happened to wake up and heard a bell ring before you had to open your eyes to see if it was 3am or 7am.

I would love to live near a church with a bell. A lovely sound, and useful too. I expect you'd stop noticing it pretty quickly.

You asked for a schedule 😂

I rarely hear it now. It’s background noise.

You only notice it when the house is deathly quiet. Even then its pleasant and you just get used to it same as you do the sound of birdsong or whatever.
I love it i think its a beautiful sound.

Our local church bel stops at night, don’t know when! You do stop noticing it, I only ever really hear it late afternoon when I need a reminder to get my arse in gear.

Yes, grew up with it and have it now. We really like it but the ring is quite gentle.

When I was a child our house was a couple of streets away from the church which did hourly bell ringing.
I wasn't a very heavy sleeper and it never kept me awake.
I can remember hearing it ringing when I was out playing with the garden and I always thought it sounded beautiful. I miss it a lot!

I used to live beside an Abbey that had an hourly bell ring, and every 15 minutes in between! Plus bell ringing practice, and extra at the start of services.

By week two I never noticed it at all. I missed it when we moved.

We do and don't even register it now, been here for 17 years.

I live very close to a church but pretty sure it’s just Thursday evenings and then Sunday and other services. It’s conspicuous by its absence at for the last year and I miss it. Love the sound on a Sunday morning.

I work very close to Big Ben and before it was stopped for repairs it chimed every 15 minutes. We used it as a timer in meetings!

Stones throw away from one, it rings every single hour. Highly annoying if you are lying in bed not able to sleep but to be honest 2 years later I kinda forget about it.

Most hourly bells are automated rather than human
and many churches do not strike between midnight and 6am
BUT
even if it does you'll stop hearing it rapidly

like rural dwellers hear traffic when they visit a city
and urbanites hear cows if they go to the country

just don't move to Odiham and as the helicopters to stop

Yes, ours is every 15 minutes. It’s lovely.

Hourly bells. We love it. Don’t hear it in the night. For me it’s a comforting sound.

Yes and we just got used to it so it blended into the background. Mind you, DF has collected vast numbers of clocks for years and years so I grew up in a house of chimes / ticks / bells / gongs and I didn't hear those either!

We live next door to the church and I love its hourly chime. I miss it when I go away.
Op I hope you are not going to move into the village and then start complaining about it.

I grew up near a military Air base. The noise when one of those planes take off is huge, and they go off day and night.
You noticed them go, but we were so used to stop, wait until it had gone, then continued it never bothered people.
When we go up to visit now it takes the children a day or so, and then they'll not notice, sleep through then etc

I moved to a place with several churches that rang out the quarter hours. Again you very quickly get so used to it, it doesn't even register. I'd often think "can't be half past yet, haven't heard the bell" and then check the time and find I'd not just missed the half past, but the quarter to as well.

Not a church but we can hear the town hall clock chimes, they stop at 10pm with the count of the hour, I am not sure what time they start, maybe 8am. On the hour they chime and then dong once for the hour (2 o'clock 2 dongs, 7 o'clock 7 dongs) and then they chime at 15, 30 and 45 minutes through the day as well.

I hardly notice them now, only if the house is really quiet and we have the windows open.