It is hung within a steeple or belltower of a church or religious building,[6] so the sound can reach a wide area.

They may be stationary and chimed, rung randomly by swinging through a small arc, or swung through a full circle to enable the high degree of control of English change ringing.

Before modern communications, church bells were a common way to call the community together for all purposes, both sacred and secular.

[10][11] In Christianity, some churches ring their church bells from belltowers three times a day, at 9 am, noon and 3 pm to summon the Christian faithful to recite the Lord's Prayer;[4][12][13] the injunction to pray the Lord's prayer thrice daily was given in Didache 8, 2 f.,[14][15][16] which, in turn, was influenced by the Jewish practice of praying thrice daily found in the Old Testament, specifically in Psalm 55:17, which suggests "morning and evening plus at noon", and Daniel 6:10, in which the prophet Daniel prays thrice a day.

[22][29] In the United Kingdom predominantly in the Anglican church, there is a strong tradition of change ringing on full-circle tower bells for about half an hour before a service.

This culminated in ringing bells through a full circle, which let ringers easily produce different striking sequences; known as changes.

In Christianity, the ringing of church bells is traditionally believed to drive out demons and other unclean spirits.

A slight variant on this rule occurred in 2015 when the bones of Richard III of England were interred in Leicester Cathedral 532 years after his death.

[34] Sacring rings or "Gloria wheels" are commonly used in Catholic churches in Spain and its former colonies for this purpose.

[citation needed] The noon church bell tolling in Europe has a specific historical significance that has its roots in the Siege of Belgrade by the Ottomans in 1456.

In World War II in Great Britain, all church bells were silenced, to ring only to inform of an invasion by enemy troops.

[43] Christian church bells have the form of a cup-shaped cast metal resonator with a flared thickened rim, and a pivoted clapper hanging from its centre inside.

Bells which are not swung are "chimed", which means they are struck by an external hammer, or by a rope attached to the internal clapper, which is the tradition in Russia.

It is derived from the washing of the bell with holy water by the bishop, before he anoints it with the "oil of the infirm" without and with chrism within; a fuming censer is placed under it and the bishop prays that these sacramentals of the Church may, at the sound of the bell, put the demons to flight, protect from storms, and call the faithful to prayer.

[48] Before the use of church bells, Greek monasteries would ring a flat metal plate (see semantron) to announce services.

[48] The signa and campanae used to announce services before Irish influence may have been flat plates like the semantron rather than bells.

[48] The oldest surviving circle of bells in Great Britain is housed in St Lawrence Church, Ipswich.

[50] She returned to the subject towards the end of her life in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1839 with The Village Bells., a poetical illustration to a picture by J.

The sound of church bells is capable of causing noise that interrupts or prevents people from sleeping.