Curfew bell

The curfew bell was a bell rung in the evening in Medieval Great Britain and Ireland as a curfew signal.

The custom of ringing the curfew bell continued in many British towns and cities, especially in the north of England, well into the 19th century, although by then it had ceased to have any legal status. The tradition is still practiced in the town of Sandwich, Kent, where a curfew bell known as the "Pig Bell" at St Peter's Church is rung at 8 pm every evening for ten minutes. At Ruthin in Denbighshire, the custom lapsed in the 1970s but was revived in 2020 after the bells of St Peter's Church were restored.

Inverness, Scotland rang a curfew bell at 5 p.m. from Old High St Stephen's; it was later moved to 8 p.m. The custom was once widespread in Scotland.

Ruthin, Wales had a curfew bell at 8 p.m. to warn all citizens to be indoors at night.

In Ireland, Coleraine had a curfew bell at 8 p.m., after which all country-dwellers (mostly Irish Catholics) had to be outside the city walls. Similarly, in the Penal era (up to the 18th century), St. Eugene's Cathedral, Derry rang a curfew bell at 9 p.m. after which Catholics had to be outside the city walls.

At Penrith, Cumbria in the 19th century, the curfew was known as the "Taggy Bell", thought to be derived from the Old Norse tœkke, "to cover".

The tyranny of William I is described by the poet Francis Thompson,

The shiv'ring wretches, at the curfew sound,
Dejected sunk into their sordid beds,
And, through the mournful gloom of ancient times,
Mus'd sad, or dreamt of better.