to be completely fed up with the church bells ringing on the hour through the night.

[jollyma]

I live in a village about 500 metres away from a church. Since the windows have been open this summer we have heard the bells ring through the night. When they ring at 5am they disturb ds2 and it is then morning in our house.

I bumped into the vicar today and asked him why this had started to happen and he says it always has "church bells always ring on the hour". I am tired and grumpy about this and feel like going and ringing his doorbell at 5am. AIBU?

Does Big Ben chime 24x7?
Why?

I rather like clocks chiming - being able to lay in bed and work out the time.

We used to live next to a train line. We pretty quickly stopped hearing the trains. However they used to cause a tiny bit of disturbance on the TV picture. So if we recorded a programme and played it back, we would get the disturbance with no noise. That was more unsettling than the noise itself.

I am a much happier today. Turns out someone at the church had decided to leave the bell tower shutters open for the summer and therefore the noise had been louder than previous summers. They have shut them and the chimes are distant sounds that haven't woken ds up the last 2 mornings.

As i said in my original post I dont have a problem with the bells I just dont appreciate being woken by them. Also for those of you who missed it I dont live in a country village, its a big village with a busy A road through the middle. There isn't a farm animal or farm house for miles! I do appreciate all the opinions though, thanks all.

Aha! Glad it's been sorted out!
Did the vicar come and tell you then?

Ringing devices that wind and set the chimes cost thousands of pounds.

However, glad to hear there is the possibility of the louvres being shut. Some churches have these for practices but most don't and yet again they cost money.

You are not BU at all. We moved near a church that didn't ring at night (wouldn't have moved if it had done) but they started ringing bells. They were so loud. I was hardly getting any sleep thanks to very young children anyhow and it was the straw that broke the camel's back. Now they ring from 8am to 8pm - much better.

Our church can switch the chime off but I think it's a manual thing, so they'd need someone to volunteer to switch it off at night and on in the morning - perhaps you could volunteer to do it.

No he didn't come to tell me, a friend who attends the church did. With the shutters closed the noise isn't a problem to me so i dont mind them being left on.

I think YABabitU.

The bellringers aren't ringing the bells at night. The clock hammers are on all the time. This enables the clock to strike the hour every hour, and chime the quarters. So at midnight if you are awake you will hear 12 strikes on the tenor bell, and at 1am only 1 strike. Many churches also have quarter chimes so you get a little 'tune' every 15 mins. Most people who have lived near churches for any length of time are not troubled at all by the sound.....you get used to it just like traffic/plane/train noise. If I camp near the sea I lie awake listening to the waves if I stayed there long enough I would just get used to it. You do hear of new comers in villages saying that bells keep children awake at night, but chances are they would be awake anyway!
A pp asked why we have clock chimes.....it dates back to a time before people had clocks and watches. They needed to know the time if they couldn't see the only clock...the one on the church tower.

Bellringing is a very traditional (mainly english) thing which is dying out in many areas. Traditionally the ringers would practice one evening a week, and ring for 30-45 mins before each service to remind everyone to come to church! They would also ring for weddings etc. It is as traditional as the village pub and cricket! Shame some don't like it.

good news all round