What Happened to Church Bells?

I recently was working a show (I volunteer at the souvenir table for Southwest Shakespeare Company at the Mesa Arts Center), and as we finished up after intermission, and I was walking to my car, the bells at the Methodist Church just south of the MAC began to ring 12:00, noon.

York Minster Abbey, York, England

It was so beautiful and it made me wish that all the churches still had bells. I never get to hear church bells unless I am in England and it is such a beautiful sound.

Random church bells

When did churches stop putting bells in them? I know in my lifetime, at least not that I am aware of, there haven’t been any churches built of any denomination that have had bells built in them. One other church here in Mesa had church bells. They were electronic but they were still beautiful. It was in an Episcopal church we lived by when we first moved to Mesa in 1982 and I loved listening to them.

Westminster Abbey, London, England

I later read in the newspaper that the neighbors were complaining so I think they stopped them, which was very sad.

I wonder if the demise is the church bells has to do with the advent of the telephone? I know in the past, the bells were used to alert, warn, or call the people of the area, so maybe they weren’t needed as much with the invention of the telephone.

My nephews, Mitchell, Tyler, Thomas, and son Michael with St. Paul's Cathedral in the background

I don’t know what the reason is but I miss them. Now, if I am ever needing to go downtown, I try to time it so I am there when the bells will be ringing. It is just beautiful!