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A dead bell or deid bell (Scots), also a 'death', 'mort', 'lych', 'passing bell' or 'skellet bell'McKay, p. 130. was a form of hand bell used in Scotland and northern England in conjunction with deaths and funerals up until the 19th century.
The dead bell was therefore originally rung for two reasons: firstly to seek the prayers of Christians for a dead person's soul, and secondly to drive away the evil spirits who stood at the foot of the dead person's bed and around the house.
The use of the dead bell is illustrated on the Bayeux Tapestry at the funeral of Edward the Confessor and may have been brought over to Great Britain by the Normans.
The 14th Century story The Pardoner's Tale tells of a bell rung at a funeral
The Ballad of Willie's Lyke-Wake from the north of Scotland records the payment of a groat for the ringing of the dead bell at his funeral by the bedral or bell-man.
In later, secular times, the bell ringer would pass through the streets of villages, towns or cities announcing the name of a recently deceased person, with details of the funeral. At the funeral the bell ringer, often the beadle, would walk at the head the cortege, solemnly ringing the bell from the home of the deceased until the church was reached.Love (2009), pp. 219–220. The bell was also sometimes used to indicate the point at which the coffin-bearers were changed.
The dead bell ringer was instructed to go through the town no more than twice and was not permitted to use the words "faithful" or "God". He was not permitted to ring the bell before sunrise or after sunset.Napier (1873), p. 101.
Kirk session records show that in one Ayrshire parish the dead bell ringer was paid at a rate of a penny a mile at first, rising to two pence per mile by 1762. The income from the ringing of the dead bell went to the kirk session and was used to support the poor.Love (1989), p. 60.
The ballad of "Barbara Allan" reads:Napier (1873), p. 103.
| "She had not gane a mile but twa, When she heard the deid bell ringing, And every jow that the deid bell gaed, Twas wae to Barbara Allan." |
Records show that the use of the dead bell was common in Eastern Scotland during the seventeenth and eighteenth century and for many years before.Willsher, p. 40. In pre-reformation times the dead bell was also used to summon the priest to administer the last rites.
In the eighteenth century, the church beadle went around the parish farms, Kirton, and hamlets at the time of the death and later when the funeral arrangements had been settled.
At poor people's funerals the dead bell was hung on a tree and rung throughout the service.
The dead bell was held in high regard and one bell ringer was reportedly sacked for an indecent use of the dead bell.
In the Inns of Court, as well as the usual use, a passing bell was rung on the appointment of a member as a Serjeant-at-Law, who was said to have "died to the Inn" as he left his Inn of Court and joined Serjeant's Inn, until appointments of Serjeants ceased in the 19th century.
An example of 1641 from Glasgow was made to replace the ancient Saint Mungo's. This bell had the Chapter of Glasgow's seal on it, a tree and a salmon, together with a representation of an ancient square-shaped bell; like that of Saint Mungo, which still existed at that date. Saint Mungo's bell was rescued by a Glasgow magistrate, James Laing, after the reformation and the Glasgow officials purchased it for the substantial sum of £10 Scots in 1577. In 1640 the council had a new dead bell made, Saint Mungo's bell probably having become too worn. This was then used for many years and then lost; however, in 1867 it was recovered and returned to the Glasgow corporation.MacGeorge, p. 25. The present whereabouts of Saint Mungo's bell is unknown.MacGeorge, p. 26.
The Kilmarnock funeral bell carries the inscription "Kilmarnock, 1639" and is made of bell metal, 8 inches high and 7 inches wide at the mouth. Its use was remembered by local inhabitants still alive in the 1850s.Kilmarnock Funeral Bell, p. 82. In 1873 the Dunblane dead bell was kept in Dunblane Cathedral.Napier (1873), p. 104. Partick's dead bell was similar to Glasgow's and was dated 1726 and after many travels it was given to the Partick Curling Club.Napier (1873), p. 104. Hexham, Carlisle and Penrith are recorded to have used dead bells as late at the 1870s in the case of Penrith.Napier (1873), p. 103.
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