Dozens of parishioners are understood to have started a campaign to save a peal of bells given to a church by composer George Handel from being silenced after a complaint about noise.
The bells were given to St John the Baptist in Keynsham near Bristol in the 18th century after Handel exchanged them for the church's "particularly mellow" organ, which have rung out ever since.
It remains unclear who made the complaint but diocesan authorities are said to be taking the issue seriously which has prompted locals to start a petition, calling on the parish's vicar, Revd Dr Stephen M'Caw, to "take no action in respect of concerns expressed about the bells of St John's Church".
The petition says the bells are "a valued local tradition and need to be retained to reach the proposed extensions to the town".
Speaking to the Telegraph, Rev M'Caw said: We have been asked to reduce the frequency of bellringing, and are looking for a way to be good neighbours to everybody and to arrive at an acceptable compromise."
The complaint reportedly came from a person living in a development of retirement flats built on what used to be the gardens of the vicarage.