The Parish Church of St Andrew is located on Hawkshead Road in Coniston.
The Grade II Listed building was designed by J. Matson and was built in 1819. It is constructed of slate with ashlar dressings and slate roof. The building features a west tower with embattled parapet, clock and paired stone-louvred bell openings. (
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"The present church replaced an earlier church of 1586 built by William Le Fleming. The chancel and the low bays were added in 1891. The Baptistry West window of St Andrew has stained glass by Charles Kempe.
Many of the features in the Church worthy of mention refer back to the patrons and benefactors of Coniston – the Le Fleming family, who built Coniston Hall in 1270, and who have remained there until recent times, and the Barratt family who established themselves in Coniston in the 1820’s to develop the copper mines." (
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The clock chimes of St Andrew's Church in Coniston have been silenced after pub guests complained of sleepless nights. Numerous articles and reports in newspapers and online have been written about this.
The report by BBC News published on 19th September 2017 reads as follows;
"Bells at a Lake District church that have tolled for more than a century have been silenced after pub guests complained of sleepless nights.
A timer has been installed at St Andrew's Church in Coniston to stop the clock chiming between 23:00 and 07:00.
It follows complaints from the owner of the adjacent Yewdale Inn who said guests complained about the noise.
Some residents have criticised the decision, insisting the bells are "part of village life".
Jeff Hart complained to South Lakeland District council, claiming night-time chimes were a nuisance when guests at his nine-room pub were trying to sleep.
The council said following an investigation it had instructed church officials to take action to reduce overnight noise.
Mr Hart said: "It would just disrupt your sleep constantly. You're always on edge, especially when the big one comes at midnight.
"In the kind of job we have it's extremely stressful."
Mr Hart said complaints had been made to him in person and also negative comments had appeared on online review sites.
He added: "Living across from the church gives us a wonderful atmosphere. It's just, can we have some sleep please?"
But resident Anne Hall said: "I think for every one that says it is a problem, there are many others that say they like the sound of the country bells.
"It's part of our village life and when you hear them they give you a feeling of community."
A spokesman for South Lakeland Council said: "We received a complaint of alleged noise nuisance relating to the clock at St Andrew's Church in Coniston.
"It is our statutory duty to investigate all such complaints and in circumstances where environmental health officers establish there is a nuisance we always try to find a solution before serving an abatement notice.
"That is what happened in this case. We monitored the level of noise from the clock and advised the church accordingly.
"Since then a new mechanism has been fitted, silencing the clock from 11pm until 7am."
A spokesman for the Diocese of Carlisle said turning off the chimes during the early hours was a "reasonable compromise" in this situation and one that other churches had also adopted."
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