The church bells of a parish in Hertfordshire, England, have been rescued from silence by local clock restorer, Wayne Francis. After the quarter hourly chimes ofSt Mary's Church in the village of Ashwell received resistance from several villagers, Mr Francis created a solution to satisfy both sides.
The clock tower of St Mary's Church in Ashwell was installed as a gift to the Hertfordshire village by local landowner, Joseph Butler Westrope in 1896. The tallest in the county, the clock tower has since chimed every fifteen minutes, day and night, across the village. The six bells, installed between 1664 and 1817, have become a familiar and constant sound to the villagers, despite exceeding the 35 decibel night-time noise limit, set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Over the past year, however, due to complaints made by newcomers to the village, the church bells have caused a lot of controversy. St Mary's was threatened by North Hertfordshire District Council, public meetings were held, protest groups were formed and eventually a timer was switched on and the bells were silenced at night to appease the protesters.
Fellow resident, Mr Francis, was among the many other villagers who feared the silencing of the bells was another fading pillar of British tradition to affect local communities, along with dwindling village shops, post offices, schools and pubs. A bell-ringer for the church since the age of 13, Mr Francis knew he needed to do something to reunite the divided community so set about his new invention. The £3,000 device connects to the chiming levers to soften the bell chimes at night, lowering the level to within the WHO limit.
This story originally appeared on Country Living UK.