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?

The clock chimes are, as others have said, completely unrelated to the bellringers - and it seems really odd that a new vicar has changed the clock chimes?

I think that polite contact with the churchwardens about the CLOCK chimes to find out about why these have suddenly started would be completely reasonable - hourly chimes or silenced overnight may be possible (if the mechanism is already there) or perhaps could be a focus for fundraising amongst local residents if a new mechanism is needed in what is possibly a centuries - old clock.

The ringing practice may be longer at present because of the national ‘ring for the King’ initiative to train new ringers (early learning can be silenced but once ringing with others, you need the sound). You nay find that after the Coronation the practice night is shortened.

Sunday morning ringing and occasional weddings or peals / quarter peals / striking competitions / tours that involve occasional longer periods of ringing are just part of living near a church, I’m afraid.

If you can’t best them, you could join them? Quieter inside the tower, often.

They ring in the NIGHT? That's not exactly very considerate of them. Have you tried popping in and having a friendly word to the vicar? Maybe they're unaware it's waking people up? I don't think you're being unreasonable tbh.

It may be that the church is rejoicing in its newly-restored historic clock! You won’t know unless you ask.

I was brought up in a house with at least 5 striking clocks - from Westminster chimes every quarter hour to the relative peace of those that strike only once an hour, though very stridently - and near to a church whose clock struck hourly. We all slept through them. Visitors tended to find it a little overwhelming!

No, the ringers do not ring in the night.

The church clock strikes in the night, as many have for centuries.

So the clock rings at night then. It's ridiculous. Just because something happened for centuries it doesn't mean it should still happen. The reason for it happening years ago was to tell people the time. Nowadays we all have clocks at our disposal.

But she knew this town, the bells and chimes hadn't been an issue in the past and when she bought the house, it's since this new massively inconsiderate entitled vicar.
Cows and birdsong are natural noises no one should complain about but this is just a man-made nuisance. Moderation in all things, including church bells!

It may be possible to silence the chimes - overnight ir totally - or it may be feasible to retro-fit equipment to make this possible.

Or the church could stop its clock forever.

I live somewhere with many visible public clocks, which I value. I may be unusual in this?

I think it's reasonable to ask for a night silencer-that sounds like a reasonable compromise. Apart from that you do sound a bit like a friend of mine who bought a house backing on to a railway line and the complained about the trains....

I am really puzzled about the reference to the vicar, btw, in relation to the clock chimes? Church fabric is under the purview of the churchwardens - it may be that the clock has been restored or a decision made in the PCC that the church clock should ring out again, but a vicar isn’t usually in charge of this.

Can you bring it up with the bishop of your local diocese? I think it's not totally unreasonable for the bells to be silenced during night hours, especially if they were silenced before.

As for the bell ringing practice, I'm afraid I don't know what to do about that. Maybe they can stop at 8pm rather than 9pm?

Butteredtoast55 · Yesterday 21:57
Don't be ridiculous. You bought a house near a church. Try to get used to the bells, it's a beautiful sound.”

Not every 15 minutes, all night long, it isn’t.

My grandfather lived in a former vicarage and the village church clock chimed all night. You get used to it.
Bell ringing is lovely and it would be ridiculous to ask them to move the time of practice, they are likely to be at work/having dinner before the current time.

@ErrolTheDragon i think it depends how you read the original post. The bells used to ring they had some years peace for Covid and now things have started again. It looks to me like the new vicar has coincided with the end of Covid. She doesn’t say it was always quiet-just it was quiet during Covid

Another reason to hate religion

I would petition it or file a complaint about noise pollution

I don't know what you can do about it but if the small town begins with S A I live there and know what you mean about Tuesdays.
I moved into the back bedroom as it's quieter.

Nope.
It used to be that on occasional Saturdays someone would get married and the bells would happily ring out.

That part clearly didn't relate to the covid years, and she said she knew the place well from having been brought up in the area. It was just extra peaceful during the lockdowns.

Of course it’s not bellringers pulling the ropes a few times every 15mins they’re automated hammers that hit the bells so people can know the time 🙄 In some towns/villages these chimes are silenced overnight but you should have checked this before buying the house.

you should have checked this before buying the house.

It wasn't an issue at the time she bought the house.

Bellringers during the day/ for services etc are of course to be expected if you live near a church.

Chiming the quarter hour overnight though is clearly just inconsiderate. Just pop round and ask if they can be silenced overnight.

No way should they be ringing at night, the church is closed?

(maybe I misunderstand the meaning of bells ringing though. I thought they were calling people to the church.)

What type of church is it?

Hi OP. My first reaction, like many others here is "you moved there, how dare you" like, those terrible people who move next to a cricket pitch or a golf course and moan about the odd ball in the garden like its a hand grenade or something.

But the key thing here is that you've lived there for a while and the vicar has upped ringing from hourly and special occasions to 15 minutely. They've made the recent change that several long standing residents object to. Its not like you're Londoners moving to the sticks trying to get the farmer not to start before 10am or whatever.

I don't think you'd be unreasonable to have some conversations and make some requests highlighting the years you've lived there and how it has always been before. I'm sure, especially if neighbours agree, an appropriate compromise could be reached.

You have misunderstood.

People ring the bells for services and weddings (and the practice necessary to make sure this isn’t a clashing din)

The automatic clock mechanism chimes the clock. This may be chiming the same bells (using a hammer that hits the bell, not ringing it fully as a bellringer would) or may use a separate clock bell or bells. Because it is an automatic mechanism, it MAY be possible to silence it at night.

I maybe I misunderstand the meaning of bells ringing though. I thought they were calling people to the church.)

I don’t think you are misunderstanding the meaning of bells ringing. However, Many people on this thread, including the OP, seem unable to differentiate between the ringing of church bells and the chiming of a church clock.

They are not the same thing.

Towers do fall silent, for a variety of reasons - the clock may need mending, the bells may be re-hing, there may be no ringers available for services or practices.

During Covid, ringing couldn’t take place but there would be no reason for the clock not to chime unless eg it was a very old one that needed physical winding snd the person who did it was vulnerable / shielding.

OP, did the clock chime pre-Covid? Do your neighbours remember when the clock last chimed as it does now? If the tower was almost totally silent, it may be that the bells needed repair and now that has been completed the extra ringing practice will be to re-build the band of ringers.

Clock chimes: most church clocks only chime through the day. I remember odd occasions after the clock at my childhood church being wound when they got onto the wrong 12 hours - much complaint and profuse apologies. Ours was the original clock mechanism, with a wheel that triggered the chimes. How easy it is to change from 24-hour chiming to 12-hour chiming, I don't know - it will depend on the mechanism.

Weekly practice and Sunday service ringing - tough. Weddings too.

The big bone of contention can be "peals", which take over 3 hours. Sometimes an agreement is reached over how often is reasonable - if it's only a set number of times of year, it's easier to put up with - especially if they let the neighbours know when they're planned, so you can avoid having friends over for a BBQ.