Chester's first 'belman' was in 1540. His was paid one (old) penny for 'going for anything that is lost' and 4 old pennies for leading a funeral procession. In 1681, a fire safety law that all houses should have tiled roofs, not thatched, was to 'be published throughout the city by the day bellman. In 1553, the crier was paid 13 old pennies for 'ridunge the banes' (reading the banns or adverts) for the Chester Mystery Plays. In 1598, bellman Richard Woodcock must have been dressed in a similar way to the London bellman, for he had 'a tymber mast typt at both endes and embellished in the middest with silver' (a wooden stick with silver decorations).