Curfew Bell

We stayed in Chertsey tonight and on our way back from dinner in the pub I spotted this statue it was quite stunning glowing in the dark.

In the past it was common practice for a curfew bell to be rung, to let people know it was time to cover their fires and get to bed. Chertsey is one of the select few places where this still happens! It is believed that the custom may have begun in 1235 when a serious fire damaged the Abbey at Chertsey, and the practice was already an old one when documented in Georgian times.