A historic church which has rung its bells since 1779 is to be silenced after a single noise complaint, in a move residents say threatens the “traditions and history” of the medieval town.
The bells of St Peter’s in Sandwich, Kent, South East England, have chimed every 15 minutes since the eighteenth century, but Dover District Council has served a nighttime ‘noise abatement’ order against the church, reports the BBC.
The order, usually reserved for neighbors who play excessively loud music or who have barking dogs, means the Norman church, which dates back to the thirteenth century and stands on grounds that have been a place of Christian worship since the 1100s, must be silent between 11 pm and 7 am. The council said it had received a single complaint from a neighbor and it had a “statutory duty to investigate noise complaints”. After undertaking decibel tests, the bells were deemed “too loud”. READ MORE