Curfew Bell - History

History

The curfew bell with the associated curfew law is recorded by history as having been started by Alfred the Great. The law associated with the curfew bell is a custom that history records as being adopted by William I of England in the year 1068. The curfew law imposed upon the people was a compulsory duty they had to do or be punished like a criminal. Historians, poets, and lawyers speak of the Medieval law associated with the curfew bell as being levelled mostly against the conquered Anglo-Saxons. It was initially used as a repressive measure by William I to prevent rebellious meetings of the conquered English. He prohibited the use of live fires after the curfew bell was rung to prevent associations and conspiracies. The curfew bell was heard by the Anglo-Saxons as the sound of their departed liberty and a testimony of their slavery. The strict practice of this medieval tradition was pretty much observed during the reign of King William I and William II of England. The law was eventually repealed by Henry I of England in 1103.

A century later in England the curfew bell was associated more with a time of night rather than an enforced curfew law. The curfew bell was in later centuries rung but just associated with a tradition. In Medieval times the ringing of the curfew bell was of such importance that land was occasionally paid for the service. There are even recorded instances where the sound of the curfew bell sometimes saved the lives of lost travellers by safely guiding them back to town.

In Macaulay's History of Claybrook (1791), he says, "The custom of ringing curfew, which is still kept up in Claybrook, has probably obtained without intermission since the days of the Norman Conqueror."

In the Articles for the Sexton of Faversham in England it was written of the curfew bell,

Imprimis, the sexton, or his sufficient deputy, shall lye in the church steeple;

and at eight o'clock every night shall ring the curfew by the space of a quarter of an hour,

with such bell as of old time hath been accustomed.

The time of the curfew bell changed in later centuries after the Middle Ages to nine in the evening and sometimes even to ten. To this day in many towns there is a "curfew" at nine or ten that can be heard throughout the town, which is usually the town's emergency siren - sometimes used as the town's noon whistle.