Retired secretary Martine Wephre lives five metres from St Didier church in Aujeurres, north of Dijon in France. She said the tolling of the bells has driven her mad.

“Every inhabitant has a watch or a mobile phone to tell the time,” Emmanuel Ludot, Wephre’s lawyer said. “This public service is not justified.”

The other villagers, however, want to keep the ringing and said the sound was protected under a law passed in 2020 which provides that noises such as the crowing of cocks and lowing of cows as well as the pealing of bells are part of the rural heritage of France and cannot be contested.