In Elizabethan times the Court Leet of the manor of Manchester appointed town waits to undertake certain duties, one of which was of "playing morning and evening together, according as others have been heretofore accustomed to do".
During Elizabethan England, the Court Leet of Manchester's manor appointed town criers to perform their duties, including playing music at dawn and dusk, a practice that had been followed by others before them.