Curfew bell

[1][2][3][4][5][6] [7][8][9][10][11] 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.

[14] 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".

[12] 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.

In the sixteenth century Bishop Joseph Hall's "Fourth Satire" it reads: Who ever gives a paire of velvet shooes To th' Holy Rood, or liberally allowes, But a new rope to ring the couvre-few bell, But he desires that his great deed may dwell, Or graven in the chancel window glasse, Or in his lasting tombe of plated brasse.

These poems were used to teach history to generations of British schoolchildren: So William decided these rebels to quellBy ringing a curfew – a sort of a bellAnd if any Saxon was found out of bedAfter eight o'clock sharp it was "Off with his head!"