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 live about 4 roads away from a church, i often hear the clock. Ours rings the quarter past, half past, quarter to as well. There is something comforting about hearing in, and in fact you notice it if it doesn’t ring!

As others have said you get used to it

I grew up next to a church and it would chime every 15 min 24/7.
one ding for quarter past, 2 dings for half past, 3 for quarter to and 4 plus hour chime at full hour.
was comforting to me when growing up tbh.

@TwilightSkies

some people don't like bells, some don't like birdsong.

Birdsong is natural though and can’t be controlled. Ringing a clunky bell at 15 intervals all day every day....not so much?

But no one is putting in new churches with bells now, so it would always be the case that the bell was there long before the people who dislike it - so the obvious solution is that (just as the OP is very reasonably trying to do) they decide if they can live with the bell beforehand and don't move there if not, rather than trying to have the bell stopped.

I am aware birdsong is natural just pointing out some people moan about noises that most people happily live with.

Ours chimes all night. Haven’t heard it for ages. I can see the church from here and must have missed 7am chimes. I’m awake and facing the church.

Sadly, due to covid bell ringing doesn’t happen now. I can’t wait to hear the bells calling people to worship or for a wedding.

When I got married the bells made me really emotional. Hearing them and knowing they were pealing for me.

Ours doesn't ring overnight but it does become normal. Did you check how many services they ring for and when bell ringing practice is? Our (busy, city) church does 4 services on Sunday, and I know another church that does 40 weddings a year (next to a wedding venue). Our church has a weekly bell ringing practice and a full peal (3 hours) about 6 times a year (always on Bank Holidays including, usually, new years day).

I love church bells.

I lived across the road from one and you do just get used to it chiming for the time. I dont think it went off at night. The only time it bothered me was when I was on nights and trying to sleep during the day of the week that they had bell ringing practice!

I lived near At Albans Abbey in the days when it played a tune every three hours. It played a different number of bars according to the hour, and a different tune each day. I loved it. It gave a rhythm to the day.

My only thought would be what about wfh/meetings etc. I do remote court hearings and am imagining being in the middle of some tense cross examination when a bell starts tolling.
Other than that I can imagine it being rather lovely, something you’d get used to. Any way you can just ask a neighbour ?

I do and i love it!

Bell ringing practice tuesday evening and then they ring for services.

Clock chimes on the hour but i think ours stops in the most unsociable hours.

I feel part of the community and its comforting.

Quarter hour here. Don’t notice it.
But the fact you asked for a schedule is hysterical.

@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

Our home is just under 250 metres away from our church. It rings hourly. In the summer, if awake with windows open, you can hear the chimes in the early hours, but it's very dull and the birds are far louder! Obviously, some days the wind direction carries it more. But it's not invasive. In fact I'd say its quite soothing. It's lovely to hear at Christmas and New Year. To hear wedding bells too. The only time it's ever irked me was twice when pregnant and I had an awful migraine in a heatwave with windows and the bell ringers were practising. (most churches have set times they practice. Most aren't later than 9pm and some have a number of practises).

@TwilightSkies

Please don't be one of those.people who campaign to stop it.

Do you understand that not everyone likes the noise and find it unnecessary (especially ones going every 15 minutes, bloody hell what is the need!!).

Then those people need to be sensible and not buy a house near a church.

I grew up where there were two church towers chiming every quarter hour, one after the other 😂 . Very handy for timing revision sessions. I agree with others that as long as the sound doesn’t actually irritate you, you will pretty quickly tune it out.

There’s nothing at all ‘twattish’ about the OP wanting to know whether the church bells are 24 hour, and unless she’s going to lurk around after midnight, it’s the obvious way of finding out, surely?

I agree. It makes perfect sense to find out about the bells before considering moving there.

Do you understand that not everyone likes the noise and find it unnecessary (especially ones going every 15 minutes, bloody hell what is the need!!).

Then those people shouldn't buy a house near a church with bells. It's quite simple. They could even have emailed the church to find out the schedule before buying...

I lived in a town for a good number of years where I could hear at least three churches, one of which rang every quarter hour. It was lovely, it was a tune that got longer until the full hour rang plus bongs to tell the time. One of the other churches had someone practising music at least once a week (it had a carrilon). Now I live near enough a church and since lockdown the bells have played hymns twice daily, which is lovely. None of these places have the bells bothered me at all, I usually enjoy them.

Do you understand that not everyone likes the noise and find it unnecessary (especially ones going every 15 minutes, bloody hell what is the need!!).

Then don't buy a house near a church which rings it's bells regularly.

Someone in our village campaigned to stop the bells that had been ringing for over 120 years and there was outrage. He complained to the council who stopped it temporarily- thankfully they saw sense and allowed it to ring again.

You get used to it and I find it comforting! I'm not religious it's just the tradition aspect of it.

I also find it's more/less audible depending on how the wind is blowing.

My parents used to live in a village where the church had a quarter hour chime. Totally pointless. It would wake me up in the night and I'd hear the quarter past chime. Great. Quarter past what? It told me nothing!

Yep, 14th century Anglican Church. I don’t really notice it anymore.

My grandparents lived about 50m from a church that chimed through the night. I didn't mind it at all, when we stayed overnight, but I know some of my cousins hated it.

@TwilightSkies

Please don't be one of those.people who campaign to stop it.

Do you understand that not everyone likes the noise and find it unnecessary (especially ones going every 15 minutes, bloody hell what is the need!!).

You do understand that no one is forced to live near a church and the bells were ringing long before any of us were born and will continue to ring long after.

But that's presumably why the OP posted, and why she sent the email asking about the bell schedule which some posters up the thread found so 'twattish'. She presumably won't buy the house if, on consideration, she thinks the bells will bother her.

But I think anyone who does find them bothersome certainly has a right to make their feelings known. Our village had church bells that chimed quarter-hourly all day and night, until someone newish started a petition to have the bells silenced from midnight to 8 am, and got a huge number of signatures, and enough public support to get it through parish council or whatever was necessary to make it happen. It turned out that lots of longterm residents were apparently bothered by the nighttime chimes especially those living in the very old houses closest to the church which in some cases couldn't be double-glazed because of listed status but believed they would meet with stony opposition, and never complained.

I'm pretty sure also, OP, that just by hanging around the area to listen to the sound etc doesn't give you a real perspective of how it might bother you during the night. You'd have to be tucked up in bed with the curtains and window shut to gauge its noise during the night.