Such is the case for the good people of Wrington in Somerset who, thanks to the complaints of a newly arrived couple of residents, have had to turn off the chimes of the clock tower on the 15th century All Saints Church.
It seems that the chimes, that have rung each quarter hour for a hundred years, were not to the tastes of the newcomers who complained to North Somerset Council.
The council duly dispatched an enforcement officer, who declared that is was a "clear statutory noise nuisance". The council then issued an enforcement notice, forbidding the ringing of the chimes between 11pm and 7am. Unfortunately, because the chimes cannot be turned of at night, the chimes must be silenced 24 hours a day and the bells of Wrington no longer ring (there's a pun there folks!).
Call me old fashioned, but if you choose to buy a house next to church that has bells and chimes, then you might well expect them to make a noise as a result of the effluxion (there's a word I should use more often) of time.
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Happened locally in Ulverston. A southerner arrived bought a home within the sound of the TSB clock chime and complained to the local council who hid behind the 'someone has complained so we have to act' defence (beloved by plod as well as councils) and stopped the clock chiming.
ReplyDeleteThe silly bitch then decided after six months or so she didn't like Ulverston and upped sticks and left!
bloody southerners!
DeleteLoad of arrogant good-for-nothings, aren't we? XD Luckily, although born and raised south of the Watford Gap, me mam is full-blooded Yorkshire. I'm cured!
DeleteAhh, if only they'd said "Bugger off, come back when you have a peer-reviewed study of the entire town's feelings towards the bells you overpaid upstarts!!" I say overpaid upstarts even though I sometimes temp for my yokel council...who treat temps like slaves!
We had a similar situation near to us.
ReplyDeleteA young couple moved into the area, they wanted to escape the city and live in the country.
The couple complained about the local cockerell crowing every dawn. The local Nanny served the farmer with a notice to silence the bird.
This couple too, moved out. It is said because, it was too quiet for them out in the sticks!
This happened over a decade ago.
Maybe some of the real locals could complain to the council that they are disturbed by the absence of the chimes and demand they be reinstated.
ReplyDeleteI live less that 100 yards from a church with a clock that chimes the hours 24 hours a day (as well a regular bell-ringing on High Days and Holidays and Wecnesday night practice).
When the bells were silenced for a couple of months while the clock was away being repaired I found it quite unsettling not hearing the them late at night. I'm sure I could find some psychologist who would declare that my mental health was suffering as a result of not hearing the balls which had been part of my life for the previous 30 years!
Someone in Wrington should try it.
Similar story. Brother and wife used to run a pub for Tetley in Yorkshire. Pub has been there for around 170 years.
ReplyDeleteAnyway waste land beyond pub sold to a developer for six "executive" houses.
Punters pass Pub to view same even calling and eating in resturant.
Can you guess what happened? Yep, bought the overpriced houses and then complained about the pub beer garden!
Twats!
"... not hearing the bells..." obviously. Not that hearing balls hasn't been a feature of the last 30 (and more) years of my life as well!
ReplyDelete"Not that hearing balls.."??
DeleteShurely shome mishtake?:)
Ken, doing this blog you must hear a load of balls every day!
DeleteIn 1964, when I was 13, my dad took over the City Arms in Wells, Somerset. We were near to the Parish Church, (the beautiful Cathedral was up the top of the High Street). There were chimes every 15 minutes for 24 hours. I don't know how long it took to get used to it, but it wasn't long, and I remember it with affection.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago, a couple moved to a town in Saddleworth, I think it was Dobcross. There is a pub there which has famously had a brass band concert every Sunday afternoon since the 19th century. In the Spring/Summer/Autumn, weather permitting, it is outside in a large courtyard, where seating is provided. I have played there myself. It is packed out, with visitors from far and wide, even foreigners...no, I don't mean from outside Yorkshire, I mean things like American and Australian tourists.
Anyways (to coin an expression), this new couple complained about the noise, (what were they doing on Sunday afternoons for a couple of hours. Fortunately, the brass band tradition is so strong in these parts, that the remainder of the town presented a petition to the local council, and the couple who complained received not only a brass band, but a four figure flea in the ear.
Of course, in this case, it probably helped that one of the local coucilors not only loved the concerts, but played in the local brass band, so the town's residents were allerted before it was too late.
I have to say, a large clock chiming every 15 mins 24/7 sounds absolutely horrendous (excuse the pun). I wonder how the residents of this village would feel if rap music was blasted out every 15 mins 24/7? It appears that some noises are more acceptable than others. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me for the chimes to be turned off between 11pm andd 7pm; you can't even toot your horn between these hours. Perhaps a 24 hr chiming church clock increases property values: who knows...
ReplyDeleteI was mArried to Jonathan Apps and I think the Wrington villagers are so up their own arses. He was under a lot of stress when he and Tina found and bought the (overpriced) house. The chimes were switched off at that stage, Why cant the villagers admit the chimes past midnight are a complete pain? Jonathan and I brought our boys up in a tiny hamlet we are not Townies and had to content with the main west country rain line at the bottom of our garden. Give them a break and please let the villagers realize they are being hostile and unwelcoming and sort themselves out.
ReplyDelete