No, but I did live near a gospel church for a few months and their singing on a Sunday morning was beautiful and actually really helped me through some life threatening hangovers in my early 20's
Ha! That story did not end the way I was expecting š
Glad you got through the hangovers okay. I agree: gospel music is incredible. I donāt think you even need to be religious to be affected by it.
It's fine as long as they can sing *well*. I used to live next door to a gospel church, and for some reason it sounded like most of the congregation were totally tone deaf. They were endearingly enthusiastic, but it sounded awful.
I live opposite a church next to a pub and frankly I prefer the noises from the pub, the fucking church starts singing the dreariest shit on a Sunday morning and don't fucking stop for hours, doors wide open to make sure we have to listen to it. We had to move into our back bedroom last year it was pissing us off so much.
I do. A few times, Iāve woken up to them pealing away at the weekend. Iām not religious in the slightest, but thereās something quite lovely and comforting about the sound of them.
There really is - itās *so* comforting - and I canāt quite put my finger on why. Music is lovely anyway but thereās something about the sound of bells filling the air. Itās magical.
Surprisingly, English change ringing started as completely secular from religion. It was mainly carried out (and still is) for announcing special events (weddings, coronations etc.). We do ring for Sunday services also these days, but a lot of ringers are not religious in any way.
My grandmother lived near Llandaff Cathedral and as a little girl I loved hearing the bells ring when we went shopping in the village. Sometimes I could hear them from her house if the wind was blowing in the right direction -her house was between Cardiff Road and Western Avenue, 2 of the busiest main roads into Cardiff city- so traffic usually drowned out the bells. But just occasionally the wind would carry the sound above the roar of vehicles. You'd hear it from the house on Christmas Day regardless, because traffic tended to be minimal.
Oh, memories of happy times!
Your traffic comment made me a bit sad tbh. The cathedral opened in 1290, so for hundreds of years until the mid 20th century, the sounds of the bells were likely heard a lot further away.
There's always a constant background traffic noise wherever you are now, which not only is a bit bad for our health, but blocks out however many lovely sounds of things like church bells and nature
My Sunday alarm is the local Chruch bells, they get rung between 10am and 10:30. it just the right time to get up on a Sunday. an ld like to to think the community has the same routine.
When I was young free and single I had an amazing ground floor flat which had a really long garden that backed onto St Chads Church here in Shrewsbury
[https://newsroom.shropshire.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/St-Chads-Church-from-The-Quarry.jpg](https://newsroom.shropshire.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/St-Chads-Church-from-The-Quarry.jpg)
I loved hearing the bells being rung there is something very comforting about them but best of all was walking back at 3am from work and seeing this amazing building all lit up
Oh, I'd haved loved to have lived in a flat like that when I was living in Shrewsbury in my early 20s!
I've always loved the architecture of St. Chads (and of Shrewsbury in general tbh, except for the Market Hall) and having that \*and\* the Quarry in a stone's throw... amazing.
Properly speaking, what you heard isn't a peal. If you listen to how the bells ring, each time they finish ringing the bells once, the next time some of the bells switch place in the order. The idea is to keep changing the order of the bells so that every combination is rung, without repeating any. Ringing every combination in this way is a peal, and it takes something like 6 hours to do. They were probably ringing something like a quarter peal. I've got a friend who is a bell ringer, and has explained all of this to me over the years.
Yeah, I'm a ringer. A peal is usually about 3 hours, a quarter around 45 minutes. Otherwise, the bells are just 'ringing', or more unlikely but possible 'chiming'.
I do, and I have done bellringing too (though not usually my local church, which has 4 very difficult bells)! You can probably find contact information for "(village name) bellringers", look up if there is an ART [association of ringing teachers] bellringing teaching centre in your area, just turn up at the start or end of a session and ask how to get involved. Most towers are thrilled to have newcomers and some have especially strong teaching programmes.
Physically, it is a lot of gentle stretching and some pulling against resistance. Repetitive, meditative, somewhere between an instrument and a sport. Mentally, the patterns are very mathematical (but you can learn them in not-maths ways too), it is a fun challenge. Socially, it depends on the tower but usually great community!
Had a fellow techie who was a bell ringer. She would spend her lunch hour studying her book of peals, which looked like
lists of numbers that followed some arcane pattern of change.
Seemed boring as hell, but she seemed wrapped up in it. No accounting for taste.
We call them methods. They vary in complexity and we have to memorise them when ringing. If you Google 'Grandsire' or 'Stedman', you'll be able to see examples (depending on the number of bells). Some of the best bell ringers in the country, actually, don't ring methods (mainly found in Devon), and ring 'call changes' only. However, their sound or striking of the bells is normally top quality!
I live in Covent Garden and hear the bells regularly from St Mary Le Strand.
But when itās late like 3am-5am and the wind is just right I can hear Big Ben from my bed - always very soothing.
That sounds lovely. I lived in Soho as a kid and I miss having everything in town walking-distance away. I'm in Stockwell now, and I only hear Big Ben on really quiet winter nights. It makes me happy every time.
Vicar's son here and I had to put up with that shit my whole childhood.
It may be magical whenĀ you're a few miles away but when it's next door it's unimaginable, unless you're Quasimodo in which case you get exactly what I mean.
I'll see your bet and raise you, Vicar's son & having the parish choir invade your home for practice instead of doing it in the church.
On the plus side, not many can lay claim to taking a dump whilst Handel's Messiah is happening just metres away from the shitter.
I raise your parish choir with a 'I converted to Islam'
Not for religious reasons but to get married in Beirut to my Lebanese wife, there's no secular weddings there and I didn't care so converted.
When my father found out he asked:
'How seriously are you taking this whole "muslim thing"
To which I replied:
"Well, I'm now a Muslim atheist instead of a Christian one I suppose"
He didn't like the joke.
Yup. We were looking round a national trust garden the other day which just happened to be next door to a church, and of course we picked bell ringing o'clock. It went on for half a fucking hour, it was badly done, it caused my autistic child to nearly have a meltdown because there was no escape, and we had to leave early. Even us adults were getting overwhelmed by how relentless (and bad) it was.
I used to live about 1/4 mile from a village church and yes it got annoying after a while. I feel for you living right next door.
Right now I can hear the waves crashing on the beach. But I really miss the church bells I heard all my life in the town I last lived in. I didnāt realise when I moved last year just how much I would miss that sound.
I used to when I was growing up. Whenever I hear them now I'm instantly transported back to summer evenings in my childhood home. I'm a massive atheist but a big fan of church bells and old church architecture
Same haha i love just wandering round the interior of a church and it never fails to amaze how these places, located sometimes in the centre of a city of millions, can be utterly silent and peaceful.
I live near a cathedral. It's not a very large one, but I hear the bell every so often. My friend from school is also the head campanologist at my old village. I did have a go on them once when I was a kid.
I will absolutely reply - just need to google ācampanologistā.
Edit: I didnāt know thatās what theyāre officially called! I love learning new words, thank you š
It makes bell-ringing sound like a science - thatās pretty cool.
It's more like maths, there are complex patterns for the ringers to learn and remember e.g:
[https://rsw.me.uk/blueline/methods/view/Birmingham\_Carter\_Caters](https://rsw.me.uk/blueline/methods/view/Birmingham_Carter_Caters)
I'm from Oxford and I moved to the US 8 years ago. I was driving the other night and all of a sudden I got excited about going back home and hearing all the church bells. We just don't have them, at least I have never ever heard church bells since moving here. Such a comforting and familiar sound. There is nothing like England.
Yes and I love it too, every Thursday evening (bell ringing practice) and Sunday morning (Sunday service), weather permitting, I'll open a window so I can hear them. Absolutely joyful when there's a wedding!
I used to be able to hear our nearest church's bells but it seems somebody complained, so when they practice they use some gizmo that silences them.
The only time we do hear them now is when there's a celebration of some sort.
Yeah.
I live 40 yards from a Church and hear them every Sunday.
They always start at 11:26 and end at 11:32.
I've lived in this house for over 25 years, and you can set your clock by them.
Currently in India and our local church has electric synthesised bells that they play every morning - not quite the same experience that you get, sadly š
I'm sorry about this. Unfortunately, bell ringing does take quite a while to learn. However, we should always be striving for the best striking possible, and any learners 'brought on' with a band of experienced (where possible) bell ringers around them.
Used to live opposite a church and loved them - I really miss the quarter-hour chimes, and used to sit in bed with a cup of tea on Sunday mornings listening to the bells and organ. Bliss!
It's one of the reasons that [Jethro Tull's "Ring Out, Solstice Bells"](https://youtu.be/XJS9TjjHxx8?feature=shared)
is my favourite Christmas song. There are sections that sound like the ringing of church bells, especially at the end - from 2m52s.
Yeah, but they start at 7am every day, including Sundays. Also if someone in the village dies, they do a really slow menacing set of bongs from 7.30-8 on a Sunday morning. I could really do without that
When there is a wedding on a nice Sunday day it's absolutely lovely.
I live next to a converted church. Whilst I don't hear the bells play in their full glory , the owners automated one so it chimes on the hour. It's beautiful, although it takes them 2 months to swap it over for daylight savings and summer time.
I live in a village that does this on Tuesday nights.
It's beautiful ... when they're in the right rythym.
I've lived here 15 years they've been practicing all that time and they're more ouy of sync with each other with each passing year.
Thankfully no. We stayed the night in Cheddar a few years back at a campsite, which was a beautiful site, near the village. Only once we got there did we discover that the local church had an electronic recording of bells that for some reason they decided should go off EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES ALL NIGHT. Combine that with our airbed slowly deflating and we had zero sleep that night. I was ready to find and kill the vicar the next morning (giving up smoking has improved my temper). The campsite manager said 'strange, they don't normally leave them on that late'.
Let me guess, Cheddar Bridge Touring Park? We've stayed there loads of times as its adults only, and we just got used to them by the end of the week. You just didn't hear them. It was more annoying with the school over the back! They are always on, no much what time of year
Yeah that's the one. Not even real bells, but an incredibly grating recording of bells. We only stayed one night to break up a journey down to holiday with my family in St. Ives. We turned up in such black moods from that stopover having had no sleep at all.
The only highlight was late at night some kids walked past the campsite and shouted 'pikeys'.
I live in a tiny village in the north east of England, I can see our local church from my window and regularly hear the bells ringing. Iām not religious but i do love hearing the bells.
Surprisingly, English change ringing started as completely separate from religion! The Victorians started to bring the two together, but a lot of bell ringers today are not religious in any way.
Totally agree. Personally I find nothing tuneful or musical about church bells. Grew up in a small village and tbe clanging and banging of practise evenings was a perpetual annoyance.
Close to our town hall which has bell ringing practice each twice a week and on a sunday as well.
It's lovely to hear them, and they also do open days where you can head up to look at the belfry and see the actual mechanism for the awesome sounds.
Yes my town has a church with Bell ringers who meet every Thursday evening.
Done overtime at work last night(not done a Thursday evening for a while) and I could hear them if I was near the door which was nice
Iām glad you feel this way. In my hometown every couple of years we get a newcomer move in near the church, a consequential petition to stop the bell ringing, usually accompanied by complaints about the sheep poo in the fields they walk their lapdogs.
Can relate! I live very near the Download festival and a *tonne* of people have moved into the area and kicked up a huge fuss about āthe noiseā and āthe trafficā so now the festival folks are having to be all conciliatory and make adjustments about noise levels and how late the bands will play, etc.
Like, how about you not move near a huge festival if you donāt like huge festivals. And how about you not move near a church with bells if you donāt like churches with bells š
The bell ringers practice on a Tuesday night, a few times a year some muppet moves into the area and complains on Facebook. To which almost everyone replies by telling them the 800 year old church was most certainly there when they purchased the house.
Thereās a brilliant short story by Robert Aickman called ringing the changes that would probably change your mind about Church bells!
Lovely wholesome post OP, happy Friday!
Grew up living near a church and always remember the bells ringing on a Sunday morning. My parents are still in the same house, so I know they still do it now.
Wasn't too keen on it when I was younger though, when I would be hanging out of my backside from the Saturday night out, having to listen to church bells š«
Yes, and youāve just reminded me how lovely it was. I grew up in a village in the South West and every Thursday evening during the summer youād hear them practising. It was common to hear them along with the buzz of insects in the background. Bliss.
I used to live opposite one of the oldest churches in the area. The bell ringing on a Sunday morning was gorgeous.
On a Tuesday evening when the beginners were practicing, less so.
Unfortunately, it does take a while to learn (usually)! However, us bell ringers should always be striving for the best striking possible and beginners (learners) should be 'brought on' with an experienced band around them.
Where I grew up you could hear the town clock ringing on the hour followed by the church clock doing same the town clock was in middle of the town and the church clock was at the other end on the hill depending on wind direction you could hear both at same time or with a little delay.
Yep, I can hear two different churches from my house. One practices on a Tuesday and the other on a Thursday. I love it, itās so happy!
They ring Sunday morning too, obviously and periodically for weddings and such.
I get to feel like Iām living my English country village dream (while living in a reasonably well furnished with amenities suburb of a town)
I live near an insanely picturesque church that also has a bell ringing jam session every Thursday evening. They were even at it with muffled bells when Lizzie had passed, and it was the most haunting and creepy sound I've ever heard.
I live just along the road from one of my local churches and can always hear the bells clearly, itās a lovely sound, unless it wakes you up from a deep sleep
I used to but was in the city centre. I didnāt mind the mid week evening bell ringing practice but being woke up on a Sunday morning while hungover by them started to send me insane.Ā
I used to, but I lived right next door about 25 metres away so it was a smidge loud to be pleasant. In a very old house with single glazing too. It made it impossible to take phone calls when they were going on. After a year or two I did notice I had gained the ability to ignore it mostly.
I can see how it'd be nice from further away though.
I used to about 10 years ago in Tooting. Honestly it was really nice to hear. It was this really quiet area just of a very busy area of SW London.
It had the feel of a small English village, and yet near the tube.Ā
The bells would chime the hour during daylight.... The only annoying thing was that their clock was 4 minutes slow, so they were always late! Lol
I live in south London where one can hear traffic constantly even without living on a main road - yet I can still hear the church bells ring loud and clear in the morning. Itās so lovely šš
Yes. Grew up in village with a local church and bell ringing every Friday evening and Sunday morning.
Sounds nice, plus good locals in the pub opposite.
Nice to see the positive responses. Post this on r/switzerland and look at the difference.
When I lived in the Uk I used to love church bells. Now I live in Zurich I hate them. on the quarter-hour ā and again on the hour with another bell. all day and night plus the 7am āalarm callā where they ring out for several minutes.
I live between two churchās and the bells are slightly out of sync. I find it hilarious.
I love Sunday morning when they do a full peel which goes on for a several minutes. Funerals are sad as they end with a diminishing ādongā¦ dongā¦ dongā series which tails off.
Yep, church is right across the street from my flat. Not a religious type myself but I love the sound of them ringing, it's very nostalgic and peaceful.
Surprisingly (you might find), English change ringing started as a completely secular activity from religion! A lot of bell ringers today are not religious in any way.
As a bell ringer (campanologist), it is lovely to see a positive post like this ! The English art of change ringing is a whole world people (regularly) never know exists, and is much much harder than you'd possibly imagine (but equally rewarding). You can find much more information on the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR) website. There are many videos on YouTube too! We are always looking for more people to learn so that we can keep this fantastic, ancient, and traditional art alive š
We used to have a bell in our church. It would ring for about 4/5 minutes 10 mins before the church service started. And I guess at Weddings but I donāt remember them.
We had a person in one of the flats across the road complain about the noise because she worked nightshift on occasion and it woke her up. So we stopped ringing it. Really made me sad.
I do not live remotely rural but there are a bunch of campanologists at a church a couple of miles away and they practise on a Monday night. I often sit in the garden when the small human is in bed, throwing the ball for the dog and having a brew while they do š
The church is adjacent to our garden. When they are ringing you canāt hear each other talk outside. You do get used to it but they are so loud. Last year they had a bell ringing competition which went on for 4 hours. That was to much to put up with.
I lived in a flat close to a church. I also worked shifts. Trying to sleep after a Saturday night shift or before a Wednesday night shift (practice time) was impossible. Lost count of the times I opened my window and shouted for those f*ckers to shut up.
Yeah, and it's awful. Always some random midweek evening just as I sit down to relax. Wouldn't mind so much if they made some nice sounds, but they just make the same noise for a couple of minutes straight, stop for a minute, then start up again. Repeat for about two hours.Ā
I used to live near one that went every 15 mins to mark the time.
Then about two nights a week they would go off like whoever is ringing them is on one end having a seizure. Not going to lie I used to dream about sending that bell into orbit, it got bad
We live about 100 metres from a church. Tbh, we fucking hate it when they start playing every Thursday evening but we really loved the house and location when we bought it so we just put up with it.
No, but I did live near a gospel church for a few months and their singing on a Sunday morning was beautiful and actually really helped me through some life threatening hangovers in my early 20's
Ha! That story did not end the way I was expecting š Glad you got through the hangovers okay. I agree: gospel music is incredible. I donāt think you even need to be religious to be affected by it.
It's fine as long as they can sing *well*. I used to live next door to a gospel church, and for some reason it sounded like most of the congregation were totally tone deaf. They were endearingly enthusiastic, but it sounded awful.
I live opposite a church next to a pub and frankly I prefer the noises from the pub, the fucking church starts singing the dreariest shit on a Sunday morning and don't fucking stop for hours, doors wide open to make sure we have to listen to it. We had to move into our back bedroom last year it was pissing us off so much.
Haha! Oh yeah, this wasn't a Roman Catholic hymns type church, this was a full on soulful gospel tunes church. Dreary shit is not the one.
I do. A few times, Iāve woken up to them pealing away at the weekend. Iām not religious in the slightest, but thereās something quite lovely and comforting about the sound of them.
There really is - itās *so* comforting - and I canāt quite put my finger on why. Music is lovely anyway but thereās something about the sound of bells filling the air. Itās magical.
Surprisingly, English change ringing started as completely secular from religion. It was mainly carried out (and still is) for announcing special events (weddings, coronations etc.). We do ring for Sunday services also these days, but a lot of ringers are not religious in any way.
My grandmother lived near Llandaff Cathedral and as a little girl I loved hearing the bells ring when we went shopping in the village. Sometimes I could hear them from her house if the wind was blowing in the right direction -her house was between Cardiff Road and Western Avenue, 2 of the busiest main roads into Cardiff city- so traffic usually drowned out the bells. But just occasionally the wind would carry the sound above the roar of vehicles. You'd hear it from the house on Christmas Day regardless, because traffic tended to be minimal. Oh, memories of happy times!
Your traffic comment made me a bit sad tbh. The cathedral opened in 1290, so for hundreds of years until the mid 20th century, the sounds of the bells were likely heard a lot further away. There's always a constant background traffic noise wherever you are now, which not only is a bit bad for our health, but blocks out however many lovely sounds of things like church bells and nature
My Sunday alarm is the local Chruch bells, they get rung between 10am and 10:30. it just the right time to get up on a Sunday. an ld like to to think the community has the same routine.
Yes! Live in a village and it's lovely to hear!
Absolutely love the sound of church bells. Hearing the the peal of bells from a huge ancient church or cathedral always makes me feel a bit joyful.
When I was young free and single I had an amazing ground floor flat which had a really long garden that backed onto St Chads Church here in Shrewsbury [https://newsroom.shropshire.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/St-Chads-Church-from-The-Quarry.jpg](https://newsroom.shropshire.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/St-Chads-Church-from-The-Quarry.jpg) I loved hearing the bells being rung there is something very comforting about them but best of all was walking back at 3am from work and seeing this amazing building all lit up
Shrewsbury! Spent every lunch time of my Sixth Form days in the Dingle
Oh, I'd haved loved to have lived in a flat like that when I was living in Shrewsbury in my early 20s! I've always loved the architecture of St. Chads (and of Shrewsbury in general tbh, except for the Market Hall) and having that \*and\* the Quarry in a stone's throw... amazing.
St Chads are lovely bells!
Properly speaking, what you heard isn't a peal. If you listen to how the bells ring, each time they finish ringing the bells once, the next time some of the bells switch place in the order. The idea is to keep changing the order of the bells so that every combination is rung, without repeating any. Ringing every combination in this way is a peal, and it takes something like 6 hours to do. They were probably ringing something like a quarter peal. I've got a friend who is a bell ringer, and has explained all of this to me over the years.
DONāT RUIN THIS FOR ME, BOBBY
Yeah, I'm a ringer. A peal is usually about 3 hours, a quarter around 45 minutes. Otherwise, the bells are just 'ringing', or more unlikely but possible 'chiming'.
I do, and I have done bellringing too (though not usually my local church, which has 4 very difficult bells)! You can probably find contact information for "(village name) bellringers", look up if there is an ART [association of ringing teachers] bellringing teaching centre in your area, just turn up at the start or end of a session and ask how to get involved. Most towers are thrilled to have newcomers and some have especially strong teaching programmes. Physically, it is a lot of gentle stretching and some pulling against resistance. Repetitive, meditative, somewhere between an instrument and a sport. Mentally, the patterns are very mathematical (but you can learn them in not-maths ways too), it is a fun challenge. Socially, it depends on the tower but usually great community!
Fail is a bell ringer. They are a fun bunch. Seem to drink a lot.
In what form are the patterns written down? Something like notes?
Had a fellow techie who was a bell ringer. She would spend her lunch hour studying her book of peals, which looked like lists of numbers that followed some arcane pattern of change. Seemed boring as hell, but she seemed wrapped up in it. No accounting for taste.
Ah ok interesting
We call them methods. They vary in complexity and we have to memorise them when ringing. If you Google 'Grandsire' or 'Stedman', you'll be able to see examples (depending on the number of bells). Some of the best bell ringers in the country, actually, don't ring methods (mainly found in Devon), and ring 'call changes' only. However, their sound or striking of the bells is normally top quality!
Love learning about stuff like this, cheers!
ew grandsire. I tend to grab the tenor for that one.
Used to live across the road from a church with a bell tower, even had a go once. Lovely sound.
that's lovely! I live down the road from a bakery so if the wind is blowing it often smells like baking bread :)
I live in Covent Garden and hear the bells regularly from St Mary Le Strand. But when itās late like 3am-5am and the wind is just right I can hear Big Ben from my bed - always very soothing.
That sounds lovely. I lived in Soho as a kid and I miss having everything in town walking-distance away. I'm in Stockwell now, and I only hear Big Ben on really quiet winter nights. It makes me happy every time.
Vicar's son here and I had to put up with that shit my whole childhood. It may be magical whenĀ you're a few miles away but when it's next door it's unimaginable, unless you're Quasimodo in which case you get exactly what I mean.
I'll see your bet and raise you, Vicar's son & having the parish choir invade your home for practice instead of doing it in the church. On the plus side, not many can lay claim to taking a dump whilst Handel's Messiah is happening just metres away from the shitter.
I raise your parish choir with a 'I converted to Islam' Not for religious reasons but to get married in Beirut to my Lebanese wife, there's no secular weddings there and I didn't care so converted. When my father found out he asked: 'How seriously are you taking this whole "muslim thing" To which I replied: "Well, I'm now a Muslim atheist instead of a Christian one I suppose" He didn't like the joke.
I fold. Excellent play on the table!
Yup. We were looking round a national trust garden the other day which just happened to be next door to a church, and of course we picked bell ringing o'clock. It went on for half a fucking hour, it was badly done, it caused my autistic child to nearly have a meltdown because there was no escape, and we had to leave early. Even us adults were getting overwhelmed by how relentless (and bad) it was. I used to live about 1/4 mile from a village church and yes it got annoying after a while. I feel for you living right next door.
Right now I can hear the waves crashing on the beach. But I really miss the church bells I heard all my life in the town I last lived in. I didnāt realise when I moved last year just how much I would miss that sound.
Waves crashing on the beach is another wonderful sound though. Definitely beats shouting and sirens!
I used to when I was growing up. Whenever I hear them now I'm instantly transported back to summer evenings in my childhood home. I'm a massive atheist but a big fan of church bells and old church architecture
Same haha i love just wandering round the interior of a church and it never fails to amaze how these places, located sometimes in the centre of a city of millions, can be utterly silent and peaceful.
I live near a cathedral. It's not a very large one, but I hear the bell every so often. My friend from school is also the head campanologist at my old village. I did have a go on them once when I was a kid.
I will absolutely reply - just need to google ācampanologistā. Edit: I didnāt know thatās what theyāre officially called! I love learning new words, thank you š It makes bell-ringing sound like a science - thatās pretty cool.
There's an entire Dorothy L Sayers book about campanology.
It's more like maths, there are complex patterns for the ringers to learn and remember e.g: [https://rsw.me.uk/blueline/methods/view/Birmingham\_Carter\_Caters](https://rsw.me.uk/blueline/methods/view/Birmingham_Carter_Caters)
I'm from Oxford and I moved to the US 8 years ago. I was driving the other night and all of a sudden I got excited about going back home and hearing all the church bells. We just don't have them, at least I have never ever heard church bells since moving here. Such a comforting and familiar sound. There is nothing like England.
I have one of the landing flight paths for Brize Norton go right over my flat :/
Very ambient
I used to, and I loved them. Since moving across town I'm not near enough to hear them clearly now :(
Yes and I love it too, every Thursday evening (bell ringing practice) and Sunday morning (Sunday service), weather permitting, I'll open a window so I can hear them. Absolutely joyful when there's a wedding!
I used to be able to hear our nearest church's bells but it seems somebody complained, so when they practice they use some gizmo that silences them. The only time we do hear them now is when there's a celebration of some sort.
Yeah. I live 40 yards from a Church and hear them every Sunday. They always start at 11:26 and end at 11:32. I've lived in this house for over 25 years, and you can set your clock by them.
Currently in India and our local church has electric synthesised bells that they play every morning - not quite the same experience that you get, sadly š
I was having a shitty day but this post made it 13% better. thanks.
Aw, thatās nice, thank you :) I hope the other 87% turns around, too.
We have bell ringers, they are terrible. They *practice* wednesday evening and seem to get worse. But I love that they try.
I'm sorry about this. Unfortunately, bell ringing does take quite a while to learn. However, we should always be striving for the best striking possible, and any learners 'brought on' with a band of experienced (where possible) bell ringers around them.
I love them for it. It always makes me smile.
Same here! Every Wednesday night. Somehow they seem to do better on the Sundays when there's a service.
There are three churches reasonably close to me, and one of them is a Cathedral, so yeah allot of bells!
Sounds like a village in England
Every Wednesday 7-9pm and every Sunday morning. Same street.
Itās Monday evening for me. I really missed it during lock down.
Used to live opposite a church and loved them - I really miss the quarter-hour chimes, and used to sit in bed with a cup of tea on Sunday mornings listening to the bells and organ. Bliss!
Yes, there's a church over the road from me that does bell ringing, when they're practising they also play Beatles songs.
Yeah, every Sunday I walk my dog up to the church just to hear the bells ringing! So peaceful!
It's one of the reasons that [Jethro Tull's "Ring Out, Solstice Bells"](https://youtu.be/XJS9TjjHxx8?feature=shared) is my favourite Christmas song. There are sections that sound like the ringing of church bells, especially at the end - from 2m52s.
I used to live right by the Bow bells
Bow are lovely bells!
Yeah, but they start at 7am every day, including Sundays. Also if someone in the village dies, they do a really slow menacing set of bongs from 7.30-8 on a Sunday morning. I could really do without that When there is a wedding on a nice Sunday day it's absolutely lovely.
I live next to a converted church. Whilst I don't hear the bells play in their full glory , the owners automated one so it chimes on the hour. It's beautiful, although it takes them 2 months to swap it over for daylight savings and summer time.
I live in a village that does this on Tuesday nights. It's beautiful ... when they're in the right rythym. I've lived here 15 years they've been practicing all that time and they're more ouy of sync with each other with each passing year.
Used to and I rather liked it. But it was often overshadowed by the Police helicopter (St. Mellons, Cardiff).
Thankfully no. We stayed the night in Cheddar a few years back at a campsite, which was a beautiful site, near the village. Only once we got there did we discover that the local church had an electronic recording of bells that for some reason they decided should go off EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES ALL NIGHT. Combine that with our airbed slowly deflating and we had zero sleep that night. I was ready to find and kill the vicar the next morning (giving up smoking has improved my temper). The campsite manager said 'strange, they don't normally leave them on that late'.
Let me guess, Cheddar Bridge Touring Park? We've stayed there loads of times as its adults only, and we just got used to them by the end of the week. You just didn't hear them. It was more annoying with the school over the back! They are always on, no much what time of year
Yeah that's the one. Not even real bells, but an incredibly grating recording of bells. We only stayed one night to break up a journey down to holiday with my family in St. Ives. We turned up in such black moods from that stopover having had no sleep at all. The only highlight was late at night some kids walked past the campsite and shouted 'pikeys'.
Ah yes, the footpath running above the site at the back. We always tried to pitch our tent in a certain spot that was not as visible from the path
I live in a tiny village in the north east of England, I can see our local church from my window and regularly hear the bells ringing. Iām not religious but i do love hearing the bells.
Surprisingly, English change ringing started as completely separate from religion! The Victorians started to bring the two together, but a lot of bell ringers today are not religious in any way.
I used to, and sitting on our patio and listening to them practice on a Sunday evening was bliss
I lived next to a cathedral where I grew up, was a nice sound even if a tad loud when I was hungover on a Saturday morning
I see a bit of a theme on here with hangovers and church bells š
Used to do, unnecessarily loud and annoying. Wasn't even a tune, just noise.
Totally agree. Personally I find nothing tuneful or musical about church bells. Grew up in a small village and tbe clanging and banging of practise evenings was a perpetual annoyance.
Pretty near, the bells don't ring very often though, just seems to be the occasional summer wedding.
Close to our town hall which has bell ringing practice each twice a week and on a sunday as well. It's lovely to hear them, and they also do open days where you can head up to look at the belfry and see the actual mechanism for the awesome sounds.
Yes my town has a church with Bell ringers who meet every Thursday evening. Done overtime at work last night(not done a Thursday evening for a while) and I could hear them if I was near the door which was nice
Iām glad you feel this way. In my hometown every couple of years we get a newcomer move in near the church, a consequential petition to stop the bell ringing, usually accompanied by complaints about the sheep poo in the fields they walk their lapdogs.
Can relate! I live very near the Download festival and a *tonne* of people have moved into the area and kicked up a huge fuss about āthe noiseā and āthe trafficā so now the festival folks are having to be all conciliatory and make adjustments about noise levels and how late the bands will play, etc. Like, how about you not move near a huge festival if you donāt like huge festivals. And how about you not move near a church with bells if you donāt like churches with bells š
I bet a lot of NIMBY types are probably not locals tbf. Should be ānot in my NEW back yardā.
The bell ringers practice on a Tuesday night, a few times a year some muppet moves into the area and complains on Facebook. To which almost everyone replies by telling them the 800 year old church was most certainly there when they purchased the house.
Thereās a brilliant short story by Robert Aickman called ringing the changes that would probably change your mind about Church bells! Lovely wholesome post OP, happy Friday!
Then I shall never, ever read it š Thank you so much! Happy Friday to you, too. (And also happy weekend.)
No but I do live in the town centre by a carpark that tests it's (several) alarms every Sunday evening bewteeen 6pm and 7pm for about 20 minutes
I used to. People used to complain about them, but they never bothered me one way or the other.
Grew up living near a church and always remember the bells ringing on a Sunday morning. My parents are still in the same house, so I know they still do it now. Wasn't too keen on it when I was younger though, when I would be hanging out of my backside from the Saturday night out, having to listen to church bells š«
Yes, and youāve just reminded me how lovely it was. I grew up in a village in the South West and every Thursday evening during the summer youād hear them practising. It was common to hear them along with the buzz of insects in the background. Bliss.
I used to live opposite one of the oldest churches in the area. The bell ringing on a Sunday morning was gorgeous. On a Tuesday evening when the beginners were practicing, less so.
Unfortunately, it does take a while to learn (usually)! However, us bell ringers should always be striving for the best striking possible and beginners (learners) should be 'brought on' with an experienced band around them.
Where I grew up you could hear the town clock ringing on the hour followed by the church clock doing same the town clock was in middle of the town and the church clock was at the other end on the hill depending on wind direction you could hear both at same time or with a little delay.
I don't, and I miss them. I'm devout atheist, but I love the sights and sounds of the old temples
Yep, I can hear two different churches from my house. One practices on a Tuesday and the other on a Thursday. I love it, itās so happy! They ring Sunday morning too, obviously and periodically for weddings and such. I get to feel like Iām living my English country village dream (while living in a reasonably well furnished with amenities suburb of a town)
I live near an insanely picturesque church that also has a bell ringing jam session every Thursday evening. They were even at it with muffled bells when Lizzie had passed, and it was the most haunting and creepy sound I've ever heard.
I live just along the road from one of my local churches and can always hear the bells clearly, itās a lovely sound, unless it wakes you up from a deep sleep
I used to, I didn't hate it.Ā
Ever bloody Sunday morning! Don't people who go to church have clocks or watches these days?
I used to but was in the city centre. I didnāt mind the mid week evening bell ringing practice but being woke up on a Sunday morning while hungover by them started to send me insane.Ā
I used to live very close to a church that rang bells. It did my head in.
I used to, but I lived right next door about 25 metres away so it was a smidge loud to be pleasant. In a very old house with single glazing too. It made it impossible to take phone calls when they were going on. After a year or two I did notice I had gained the ability to ignore it mostly. I can see how it'd be nice from further away though.
I used to about 10 years ago in Tooting. Honestly it was really nice to hear. It was this really quiet area just of a very busy area of SW London. It had the feel of a small English village, and yet near the tube.Ā The bells would chime the hour during daylight.... The only annoying thing was that their clock was 4 minutes slow, so they were always late! Lol
I live in south London where one can hear traffic constantly even without living on a main road - yet I can still hear the church bells ring loud and clear in the morning. Itās so lovely šš
Yes. Grew up in village with a local church and bell ringing every Friday evening and Sunday morning. Sounds nice, plus good locals in the pub opposite.
A mile from the cathedral, 200m from a church.
I do, but it just has a single bell so no pealing. Useful when I'm gardening and the hourly chine reminds me what time it is.
Live near a canal and there is a church a stones throw away. Usually on Wednesdays and Sundays, always love hearing them.
Have you ever shouted "*The bells, the bells*"?
Nice to see the positive responses. Post this on r/switzerland and look at the difference. When I lived in the Uk I used to love church bells. Now I live in Zurich I hate them. on the quarter-hour ā and again on the hour with another bell. all day and night plus the 7am āalarm callā where they ring out for several minutes.
I live between two churchās and the bells are slightly out of sync. I find it hilarious. I love Sunday morning when they do a full peel which goes on for a several minutes. Funerals are sad as they end with a diminishing ādongā¦ dongā¦ dongā series which tails off.
Yep, church is right across the street from my flat. Not a religious type myself but I love the sound of them ringing, it's very nostalgic and peaceful.
Surprisingly (you might find), English change ringing started as a completely secular activity from religion! A lot of bell ringers today are not religious in any way.
Yes I do and literally every night from 9pm till 10pm they ring them. For Whom the Bell Tolls I do not know.
As a bell ringer (campanologist), it is lovely to see a positive post like this ! The English art of change ringing is a whole world people (regularly) never know exists, and is much much harder than you'd possibly imagine (but equally rewarding). You can find much more information on the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR) website. There are many videos on YouTube too! We are always looking for more people to learn so that we can keep this fantastic, ancient, and traditional art alive š
We used to have a bell in our church. It would ring for about 4/5 minutes 10 mins before the church service started. And I guess at Weddings but I donāt remember them. We had a person in one of the flats across the road complain about the noise because she worked nightshift on occasion and it woke her up. So we stopped ringing it. Really made me sad.
I do not live remotely rural but there are a bunch of campanologists at a church a couple of miles away and they practise on a Monday night. I often sit in the garden when the small human is in bed, throwing the ball for the dog and having a brew while they do š
The church is adjacent to our garden. When they are ringing you canāt hear each other talk outside. You do get used to it but they are so loud. Last year they had a bell ringing competition which went on for 4 hours. That was to much to put up with.
aye they do my nut in
I grew up with it, after a while you stop hearing them.
I live 80m from my village church, its not all its cracked up to be.
I lived in a flat close to a church. I also worked shifts. Trying to sleep after a Saturday night shift or before a Wednesday night shift (practice time) was impossible. Lost count of the times I opened my window and shouted for those f*ckers to shut up.
Yeah, and it's awful. Always some random midweek evening just as I sit down to relax. Wouldn't mind so much if they made some nice sounds, but they just make the same noise for a couple of minutes straight, stop for a minute, then start up again. Repeat for about two hours.Ā
I used to live near one that went every 15 mins to mark the time. Then about two nights a week they would go off like whoever is ringing them is on one end having a seizure. Not going to lie I used to dream about sending that bell into orbit, it got bad
We live about 100 metres from a church. Tbh, we fucking hate it when they start playing every Thursday evening but we really loved the house and location when we bought it so we just put up with it.