Single noise complaint silences 137-year-old tradition

A council has ended the 137-year tradition of chiming its clocktower every 15 minutes after a single noise complaint from a nearby resident.

The bells of Birkenhead Town Hall now toll on the hour only - rather than every 15 minutes - after the fed-up local man made an official noise complaint to Wirral Council. 

The times were then changed after the environmental health officer also found the sounds a 'statutory noise nuisance', the council confirmed. 

But local heritage campaigner Philip Barton said many residents cherished the regular chime and 'live their lives by them'.

Birkenhead Town Hall was built in 1887, designed by local architect Charles Ellison in 1882 and constructed using Scottish granite and sandstone from the now filled in local quarry at Storeton, on the Wirral.

The building consists of a council chamber and offices, with a concert hall and function rooms known as the Assembly Rooms.

The clock tower is 200ft tall with four faces but after a fire in 1901, the upper part was rebuilt to a design by Henry Hartley.

The Town Hall still retains some civic service, such as the municipal registration centre for births, marriages and deaths and as a venue for local and national elections.

On September 9, 2022 - the day after the death of Queen Elizabeth II - the bells bonged 96 times at 12 noon to mark the 96 years of the late monarch's life.

But the council claims a resident who lived nearby complained about the volume and frequency of the quarter-hourly tolling of the bells, prompting a noise investigation.

An officer went to their home and measured the noise, finding the chiming to have breached limits capable of being classed as a nuisance.

A council spokeswoman said a 'compromise' was reached to move to hourly chimes while the authority considered other options.

Mr Barton said: 'We've all got clocks and watches and phones to tell the time, but the chimes are a little bit more than that.'

The campaigner said he understood the council had to comply with its own noise rules, but added 'as far as I'm aware, it's the first complaint in 137 years', adding that it was a 'great shame' the bells would not be heard as often.