the bells

bnev · 14-11-2006 8:53pm #1

can anyboy explain why the bells in either st patricks cathedral or christ church(i think its st patricks) has been going off non-stop for over an hour now? Im in college trying to get an essay done and they're going through my head!!

anybody else being driven insane?

Victor · 15-11-2006 1:19am

Bellringers practice

dirmius · 03-01-2008 12:57pm

I live in an apartment between Christchurch and Dublin Castle and those bells are incredibly annoying! I don't mind the periodic ringing of bells or even when they ring on the hour (although were I not a heavy sleeper this would probably really annoy me too), but when they do what I assume is practice sessions, it goes through your brain no matter what volume your telly goes up to.

One Sunday afternoon my girlfriend and I had a guest over and we simply coudn't hear each other because the window was open and the bells were ringing. We first closed the window and still had to speak with raised voices, and eventually just left to go to a cafe further away from the noise.

As I say I don't mind the odd bell ringing, but they are WAY TOO LOUD for practice sessions which regularly last for over an hour, and at odd times (like the session recently between 7:45pm and 9pm on Friday evening, 21st Dec 07).

I wonder if they are actually legal, I mean the noise has to be considered noise pollution when it goes on that long at that level. I am not even that close to the church, I can't imagine how apartments nearer, or the guests at Jury's feel! All I know is that if I played my stereo or guitar at that level the police would definitely be called.

I know that because I live in D2 I can expect a certain level of noise, and sure enough I hear ambulances and drunk folk singing etc., at weekend nights, but these noises are a quarter as loud as the bells and only ever occur for minutes or seconds at a time. We have wondered in the past if we complained officially would we get anywhere with it.

No other noises even come close in volume or duration to the din emitting from Chirstchurch.

(ps. Hope you finished your essay ok in spite of this aural rape)

<rant over, sorry bout that!>

Victor · 03-01-2008 11:19pm

I think you will find that the bells were there first. And its intermittant, not constant.

europerson · 04-01-2008 2:51am

Victor wrote: »

I think you will find that the bells were there first. And its intermittant, not constant.

I agree. If you don't like the occasional ringing of bells, try to live somewhere else, perhaps further away from a cathedral.

Gaspode · 04-01-2008 10:18am

I did a day release course in Kevin street many moons ago, and we had a full day 9am to 9:30 pm one day a week. It just so happened that the evening of our full day coincided with bellringing practise in the cathedral. The first week we thought it was nice, but by week 3 or 4 of this we were fit to kill quasimodo and his bloody mates. I hear your pain OP!! I suggest earplugs or headphones if you want to get that essay done.
As for anyone living near either of the cathedrals, I'm afraid you have to take the good with the bad. Its nice to hear the bells ringing on Sundays, and at new years etc., but They have to prcatise to get it right. And there's no volume button on the bells.