In Pont-Audemer (Eure), bells announcing curfew ring every evening at 10 p.m. from the steeple of Saint-Ouen church, a tradition inherited from the Middle Ages used to regulate the life of the town’s inhabitants. People were encouraged to stop their activities and go to bed, and since the houses were made of wood and very close together, the bell warned the inhabitants to put out their home fires to avoid fires. The curfew was also used to warn travellers still out on the road that the city gates were about to close.