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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Church bells thundering at 11.20 pm

115 replies

Poppywoppydoda · 24/12/2017 23:34

AIBU to think it’s unreasonable to have church bells thundering at 11.20pm or have I just lost perspective as finally managed to get my DDs to sleep and they’ve now been woken up.

Just to be clear we live across from the church and the bells go every 15 mins all day every day and this doesn’t bother us. This was relentless really loud ringing which went on for 10 mins.

OP posts:
JaneJeffer · 25/12/2017 01:02

Oops didn't mean to put a biscuit, just pretend it's a Christmas biscuit.

DeepanKrispanEven · 25/12/2017 01:03

The church has been "bothering" to do this for centuries, Cherrycoke, why would it stop? Come to that, why would it bother to hold services, run Sunday school, and all the rest of its activities?

TunaSushi · 25/12/2017 01:05

We had this in our last house, I sympathise.

Argeles · 25/12/2017 01:12

I don’t consider myself to be religious, but I adore Christmas and fully appreciate and expect that church bells should be ringing in Christmas Eve of all nights! We wouldn’t be doing all the Christmassy things we’ll be doing today without the birth of Jesus having taken place - whether you believe in him or not, that’s why we have Christmas.

Start looking on RightMove if you’re that bothered by the bells.

Niceandnormal · 25/12/2017 01:14

Good grief, if you don't like bells why the bloody hell did you buy a house near a church. Stop being so damn selfish. Do you think that the world revolves around you and you precious children. It's selfish behaviour like this that has helped reduce this country into the shambling mess that it now finds itself in. No damn thought for anyone else.

e1y1 · 25/12/2017 01:14

It Christmas (sure that has been mentioned once or twice ;))

Saying that, My house backs right on to a Church and I can’t remember seeing it lit up at all tonight, which is very odd. Wonder if they haven’t done MM there?

OrlandaFuriosa · 25/12/2017 01:33

Why did you decide to live there?

I have suffered this too but it’s only once a year. It drives me bonkers when people move to the country and complain about the mud and the cows mooing, next to a railway line and the noise of the trains, next to a mosque and the call to prayer, near a church and the bells,

UABVU

Merry Christmas.

(Our church rings the new year in too.. and the Easter vigil...be grateful...)

TunaSushi · 25/12/2017 01:34

We didn't spot the bells when viewing the property, easy error to make.

80sMum · 25/12/2017 01:42

"Don’t like bells? So why the fuck did you buy a house near a church?"

^I must admit I was thinking the same thing! Xmas Grin. It is not usual for bells to be rung at unsociable hours, but Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are probably the exceptions.

Fffion · 25/12/2017 01:45

Imagine that they are Santa’s sleigh bells #magic

Wineasaurous · 25/12/2017 06:22

As a Catholic who attends a midnight mass every yea, YANBU.
If you were whinging about the carol service or the volume of people you would be UR.
A lot of churches don't ring their bells. It does not impact the service

Bluelonerose · 25/12/2017 06:26

Bells in my local church I can hear at 3am sometimes. Shock

My and dh are convinced it's ghosts as no-one would have bell practice at 3am!!

Basecamp21 · 25/12/2017 06:28

It is Xmas eve and some people believe in the fantasy stories associated with this time of year. Would you have been so angry if it had been the sleigh bells from Santa.....

I can understand it must have been frustrating as you had just got you kids to sleep but I think you are being a bit unreasonable.

On the other hand none of the churches near me ring their bells late at night.

Insomnibrat · 25/12/2017 06:31

Out village bells were rung at 11:25-midnight. It's a beautiful sound.

God forbid religion gets in the way of Plastic Tat From China Day!

Mumsymcmumface · 25/12/2017 06:35

Unbellievable!

VivaLeBeaver · 25/12/2017 06:39

🎵🎵And the bells are ringing out on Christmas —day— eve🎵🎵

TheHoundsofLove · 25/12/2017 06:41

I don't consider myself religious either, but our town church bells were rung last night..I found it beautiful...a truly joyous and uplifting sound!

BulletFox · 25/12/2017 06:43

Beaver!!! You'll give OP an apoplexy!!

BulletFox · 25/12/2017 06:43

Ooh hounds is your name after the kate bush song?

user1486915549 · 25/12/2017 06:52

This thread has just made me laugh out loud.😂
How very dare they ring bells , don’t they know it’s Christmas and I might want to get up early to celebrate .....er what exactly !? 😂😂
You remind me of the weekenders who bought houses in our small coastal town and demanded something should be done to get rid of the seagulls.

LazyDailyMailJournos · 25/12/2017 06:57

It's like the people who move to a rural village and then complain about farm noise, cockerels crowing and mud on the roads.

YABU.

Christmas bells are part of the tradition of Christmas. If your girls are excited about it, then perhaps it's an opportunity to educate them about the fact that the festive period is supposed to be about more than just rampant consumerism.

Potplant1 · 25/12/2017 07:00

I was told recently that Salisbury Cathedral has sold off a few of the medieval houses it owned in the Cathedral Close. The new purchasers complained about the bells.

YABVVU OP, though I get that you’re sleep deprived. Church bells have rung for around a thousand years all over Europe. Apparently in the Middle Ages the way you would know you were moving from Muslim to Christian bits of Europe was by hearing the bells. The bells told the time and called the faithful to prayer, as they still do.

It’s not noise pollution, by the way: Church bells have a special exemption in law (not a total exemption, but ringing the bell just before services is fine, day or night and it’s only usually once a year in the middle of the night!)

minisoksmakehardwork · 25/12/2017 07:03

Op. YABU, but I'm sure your ire is just part of your frustration and stress at getting everything done. At least I hope it is.

I too live across from a church with bells. Dh tells me they strike the hours all through the night too - many appear to stop ringing after 10 or 11pm. We've only been here a couple of months and the novelty hasn't worn off yet, although I did wonder wtf was going on our first Wednesday night here with the bells going crazy around 9-9:30. It's their regular practice time.

Christmas is one of the biggest events in the church calendar so yes, you have completely lost perspective. But as I've already said, I'm sure it's just because you are feeling the festive strain. Hopefully you will have had a good night's sleep and feel less irrational this morning.

Evelynismyformerspyname · 25/12/2017 07:04

Did someone suggest the church has been there two thousand years? Pretty sure it hasn't!

My dad used to be a bell ringer, the few local teens there were in the village (we were the incomers, he campaigned and fund raised to restore the bells) used to complain bitterly about the newly reinstated 8am Sunday bell ringing.... Pretty sure they weren't rung late at night for midnight mass, as there were lots of very elderly people living very near the church who were morning, not midnight, church goers and would not have wanted to be woken...

YANBU - noise rules should apply universally, and no other noise that loud would be acceptable at 11:30pm.

TheSquashyHatOfMrGnosspelius · 25/12/2017 07:08

The bells are part of the joy.

You sound like a bloke who recently moved to our village into a house next to a playing field and complains to anyone that will listen about the football matches every Sunday and kids on swings. Did he think the massive green sward and the goalposts were film props or something?
YABU OP.