The priest of a Croxley Green church has appealed against a decision to silence its 140-year-old clock chimes, following a complaint from a resident.

All Saints Church in the Green was handed a noise abatement notice by Three Rivers District Council on Wednesday September 26 - banning chimes between 11pm and 7am.

The first hearing of the appeal against the order, put in by the Reverend Miriam Mugan, took place on Wednesday, November 21 in Watford Magistrates Court, Clarendon Road.

Then notice comes after an officer from the council’s environmental health department visited the complainant’s house, in Windmill Drive to measure the volume of the bells and confirmed they were above statutory limits.

Since the 1870s the bells have chimed on the hour every hour but the ancient mechanism can’t be set to work between specific times so has been deactivated completely.

The case has been adjourned and another hearing will take place in January next year.