Funeral toll

The expression "tolling" is derived from the English tradition of "telling" of the death by signalling with a bell.

The term tolling may also be used to signify a single bell being rung slowly, and possibly half-muffled at a commemoration event many years later.

Today, customs vary regarding when and for how long the bell tolls at a funeral.

In churches with full-circle English bells, for commemorative services such as funerals, memorial services and Remembrance Sunday, the bells are rung half-muffled instead with a leather pad on one side of the clapper in call changes or method ringing.

Big Ben, the bell in the Elizabeth Tower in London, has, since 1910, been tolled at the funeral of a British sovereign, the number of strokes equalling the number of years of the sovereign's life.

Photograph of cemetery bell tower.
Bell tower at Forest Home Cemetery in Fifield, Wisconsin . The bell is tolled during funerals.
English-style full circle bell with clapper half-muffled. A leather muffle is put over one side only of the clapper ball. This gives a loud strike, then a muffled strike alternately. The bell is shown inverted in the "rest position". Half-muffles are usually used for funerals and occasions of remembrance or mourning, as seen at the Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales .