Villagers in a beautiful UK village have slammed the forced silencing of their church bells as a “ridiculous” campaign waged by three unhappy residents. St Michael’s Church in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, was given notice by the borough council to stop bell-ringing between 11pm and 7am in April following a number of complaints submitted by three locals. The 177-year-old structure had chimed on the quarter hour and the hour for over a century – but following the order, it has been silenced entirely, until an expensive device is fitted to stop it ringing overnight.
Furious residents in the Yorkshire hamlet launched a petition that has reached over 1,400 signatures in opposition to the “ridiculous” plans, which they said had suppressed “the soundtrack of our community’s daily life”. One local wrote: “Three objectors should not be allowed to influence whether the bells ring or not. 177 years is an amazing length of time for them to have been rung. It’s part of our history. Find somewhere else to live or buy earplugs!”
“These bells have chimed since 1848, long before any of us were here. A symbol of continuity and community for over a century,” the petition creator added.
“Recently, a complaint from a neighbour led Calderdale Council to issue an abatement notice, forcing the church to modify the beloved chimes. This decision does not reflect the desires of most Mytholmroyd residents, who love and appreciate the historic sound that these bells provide.”
Roy Wrathall, who has been a church warden at St Michael’s for nearly a decade, told The Telegraph: “There’s very much two sides to it. There’s ‘I’m awake in the night, there goes the clock that reassures me’ and ‘I can’t get to sleep because I keep hearing that clock every 15 minutes’. It’s not an easy one to resolve.”
“Wearing the church hat – we’re there for everybody so we’ll do what the law says we have to and do our best to please as many people as we can,” he added.
Among the solutions proposed by villagers on the petition page are proposals to soundproof the complainants’ homes.
Danielle Durrans, cabinet member for public services and communities, said: “The Council received several complaints from local residents about the noise of the church clock chime overnight, and the substantial impact it was having on their quality of life.
“We understand how much local people value heritage and the tradition of the church clock.
“However, the evidence from our investigation showed that the regularity and volume of the bell chiming, at the time of night when people are sleeping, was causing a substantial impact, so we had no option but to determine a statutory nuisance and serve an abatement notice requiring the chimes not to operate between 11pm and 7am.”