Church bells are the most prominent symbol in The Nine Tailors. They consistently represent the judgment of God and have an unnerving effect on the various malefactors in the book. Old Hezekiah, who is Tailor Paul’s bell-ringer, tells Wimsey, “Wunnerful understandin’ they is. They can’t abide a wicked man. They lays in wait to overthrow ’un” (308). Hezekiah also says that a righteous man has nothing to fear from the bells. Early in the book, Hilary is cautioned to avoid Batty Thomas because this particular bell has caused the death of two men. Although both deaths could be called accidental, the men killed had bad reputations.

The bells are described in ways that suggest they see all and judge the wicked harshly—the characters in the book who are engaged in wrongdoing all sense this. Cranton is so unnerved when he accidentally strikes a bell that he flees the church. Although Jim isn’t a wicked man, he helps his brother conceal a crime and senses the judgment of the bells as they observe him hiding Deacon’s body.

Of course, the bells reserve their worst punishment for Deacon, who richly deserves his fate. Ironically, he was a bell ringer before becoming a criminal, but he swerved from the path of righteousness and has much to fear from the bells.