Church bells

[Elisi]

I grew up just outside the quiet market town I live in, so I know it well, obviously. Got married, had children (the 3 absolute loves of my life) and we moved into town. Couldn't believe we'd got it at the time 😁Thing is, we live 75 yards from the church. It used to be that on occasional Saturdays someone would get married and the bells would happily ring out. Occasionally. New vicar and oh my goodness. We (our neighbours and us) all loved the Covid lockdown, 2 years of blissful peace. Those effing bells now ring every 15 minutes plus the hour. For example, at 10.59pm it will ring 4 times, plus 11 strokes. Then at 11.15pm it'll ring once. 11.30pm, twice. 11.45pm, 3 times. Midnight, 4 times plus 12. And this goes on 24hrs a day. Worse though, the effing bellringers. 3 hours between 6.30pm and 9.30pm every Tuesday, bell-ringing practice, it is absolutely deafening. Nobody's children can sleep, and they start again between 9am to 10am Sunday morning. That's not including when they have their mates over for bell-jollies, it has become an absolute living hell. Vicar has been spoken to and we've all basically been told to suck it up. AIBU to try and take this further?

Take it further? Who to, God himself?

I lived behind a church growing up and I always loved the bells, though I do think it's a bit mad to have them going all night.

I live even closer that you do to a bell-ringing church. Yes it's loud but the evening practice and Sunday morning bells, plus extras, go with the territory and I love living right in the middle of things.

But YANBU about the clock chiming especially overnight. That should certainly be set up so that it only chimes from (say) 8am til 10pm and not keeping people awake all night.

Every 15 minutes? That's insane!

The bell ringing is fair enough but the clock chiming every 15mins is totally unnecessary, we all have clocks on our phones these days, we don’t need a reminder!

Yes definitely take it further. You bought your house before the constant and overnight ringing. This is crazy and absolutely unnecessary.

Buying a house next to a church with a bell tower & moaning about the noise is just as daft as buying a house next to a dairy farm & complaining about mooing.

Ask the PCC about funding a silencer for overnight perhaps, or utilise the 101 methods outlined to dampen the noise in your own ears or house.

I moved into an area with 2 mosques when I was living in a city during Uni. 5 calls to prayer a day. Perfectly acceptable (and pretty soon phased out as normal background noise) because I knew that living near mosques came with possibly hearing lots of noise. Never stopped my son from sleeping (aged 1 at the time) as it was soon part of his usual soundscape.

And sometimes if the wind was in the right direction you’d hear the cathedral bells.

Not to mention the wonderful celebrations at the Sikh temple down the road or the recorded chimes of the modern Catholic Church across the way.

It was all a part of the rich culture in the area I chose to live in. Complaining as an incomer about the city noise that far proceeded my arrival would’ve been utterly barking.

All those generations of bell ringers pulling the ropes every fifteen minutes...

Do their arms get stretched by the exertion four times an hour, like glass blowers' cheeks?

No village needs clock chimes.

YABU. I grew up next to this kind of church. You'll get used to it. The bell its self is probably older than your gran! Think of the historical moment you are witnessing 😜

I spent four years living next to a cathedral. You get used to it.

How long has the church been there & how long has clock been there?!

I love the bells of the church I live opposite. It chimes the hour round the clock. Bell ringers for an hour Sunday am. Practises two evenings a week 7.30-9pm.

Suck it up Buttercup or move house!!!

Nuts to go on all night, massively anti social

Who you gonna complain to Op? God?!
Haha sorry no sympathy. The bells save you looking at your watch!

I agree VariationsonaTheme
We have lived next to a church for 25 years and I have come to love the bells!
Only time we used to find it a little bit trying was when they did bell ringing practice on a Thursday evening in the summer when the windows were all open - absolutely deafening! They don't seem to do that any more though....

Don't be ridiculous. You bought a house near a church. Try to get used to the bells, it's a beautiful sound.

I live opposite a church, literally just the road between it and my front door.

I somewhat sympathise as it is loud... but, you bought a house next to a church 🤷🏻‍♀️

Our bells are automated, which is all well and good, but they're out of whack. So they're six minutes fast, which is REALLY annoying.

On the plus side, we're always early to stuff!

People just dont read do they? Op was clear there has been in increase in frequency of the chimes. There is no reason for 24/7 ringing, and they can be silenced overnight. None of our local churches have constant chimes all day and night.

I've always liked the clock bells in our village, but then I can be outside for hours without a phone or a watch and it's a good way of keeping track of the time.

Similarly if I wake up at night I don't have to look at the glow of a phone or turn a light on to find out what time it is, I can just drift in and out of sleep and keep my eyes closed and not disturb myself.

Bell ringing practice is 8-9 here, it has been for 200 or so years (stopping for 2 world wars and covid of course). We have the minute's from meeting switching from Tuesdays to Mondays in 1912!

Yes unreasonable unless the church is new, however a nighttime silencer from 10pm until 7am is a possibility, perhaps explore that with residents raising the money

That sounds way beyond reasonable. See if you can speak to some of your neighbours who feel the same way and then contact the council to ask about noise nuisance.

Every 15 minutes. That’s insane.

Not sure why they feel the need to ring them so regularly

You and your neighbours should all campaign for silence. If you win you can all say you won the No Bell Peace Prize.

Environmental protection act s.79 (1990) governs intrusive church bell ringing. It’s an offence that can actually be prosecuted in a magistrates court. That’s even in the Church of England guidance in bell ringing so even they recognise it can be a nuisance.

Speak to the vicar again and take this leaflet: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2018-11/CCB_Church-bells-and-the-law_Sep-2001.pdf

and if he still won’t listen go above him (to his actual boss and not God lol).

Yanbu this is nothing like a farm and
’cow bells’ . A farm has unavoidable noise. Clearly the church does not NEED to ring its bells every 15 bloody minutes. The vast majority of churches do not ring their bells that often, and it is perfectly reasonable to move next to a church expecting some
bell noise, but then finding it intolerable when ‘some’ noise increases to bell noise every 15 bloody minutes.

OP says that this is a NEW thing - the clock chiming, not the bell ringing.
OP is NBU, and they should at least silence the clock at night.