Custom
The Devil's Knell
One toll for every year since Christ.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- A medieval church tower tolling into the night
- Legend from
- Dewsbury tradition (1434)
- Best time
- Christmas Eve
- Tone
- Eerie
Each Christmas Eve, one toll for every year, to tell the Devil he is beaten.
Every Christmas Eve, ringers at Dewsbury Minster toll the tenor bell Black Tom once for every year since the birth of Christ, finishing exactly at midnight. The custom is called the Devil's Knell. The story behind it is that in 1434 Sir Thomas de Soothill flew into a rage because his servant boy had missed church and threw him into a mill pond, where he drowned. In penance he gave the bell and asked that it be tolled each Christmas Eve. The BBC says the bell was recast in 1875 but contains metal from 1434. In 2025 the ringers rang 2025 tolls, finishing exactly on midnight.