STANDARD METHODS IN THE ART OF

CHANGE RINGING

BY

J. ARMIGER TROLLOPEFile 01 – Pages 1 to 49

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THE jASPER SNOWDON CHANGE-RINGING SERIES

Standard Methods IN T ilE

ART OF CHANGE .. RINGING

(JASPER and WILLIAM SNOWDON)

LETTERPRESS

TENTH EDITION

A new edition thoroughly revised and rewritten by

J. ARMIGER TROLLOP£

The Complete Work

Diagrams Alone

Letterpress Alone

- 2s. wd. IS. 6d. IS. 6d.

Copyright by Miss Margaret E. St1owdon

LEEDS: 'WHITEHEAD & MILLER LT D.

1940 .

7 o be obtained only from Miss M . E . SNOWDON. Cartmel, Lanes

Index of Methods

ALBION TREBLE Boa MAJ OI<

A LNWICK SURPRISE MINOR .•

Bt:VERLF.Y SURPR ISE M INOR

BRISTOL SURPRISE M AJOR ••

C AAt BtUDOE SuRrRIS£ MI NOR

C Ht URIDC£ SURPRISE MAJ OR

CANTERBURY PLEASURE MINOR ..

C ANTERBURY SuRPRISE MI NOR

CARLISLE SuRPRJSE MI ,.Oit ••

C HesTER SuRPRISE ~11NOR ..

Cou .. Ec£ MINOR ••

COLLEGE Boa IV M INOR •.

COLLECt! EXERCISE M t,.OR .•

COLLEC£ S n<C LE MINOR

COURT O os MINOR

00UIILI! B OB MINOR

O ouoL£ CouRT ;\f iNOR

D Ot:DLI! NORWlCII COURT Boa M AJ OR

Do u BLE O xPOJt D Boa M INOR

DouBLE OxFORD Boa MAJ OR

D UPPIIILD MAJOR ••

FRA~C IS GIINIUS MI NO R

CuNDSI AE DouoLES

G RAIIDSI RI!! MINOR

C RANDSI RI TR IPLES

Hur:wuD Bos MAJOR

KC IIT TREBLE 8os MINOR

KFIIT TREBLE B OB liiAJ OR

io: b.J>TISH DFLICHT M I IIOJt

l.!nLa Bo a MAJ OR

Pagt s

66 (,~

8(,

Ql

72 55 66

65 66

s~

57 ss 54 s• 54 so

69 52 52

8

58 29 z8 .P 72

.13 33 6o 68

LoNDON Roe MINOR • •

Lo~DON SciiOLARS' Pl.IIASURI!! MINOR

LoNDON SuRPRISR llhNOR • •

LONDON SuRPR ISE MAJ OR • •

:-.IEASOtll DELICIIT MI NOR ..

NEW 00U8LP.$

OLD 0 XPORD TR EBLE Boo MINOt<

0XPORD 808 M I NOR ••

OxPORD Boa TRIPLES • •

OxttORD TREBLit Boa ~hNOit

O x PORD TRF.BL£ Dos MAJ OR

PLAI N Boo :'.IINOR

PLAir< Boa TR IPLES

Pu1N Boo MAJOR

f>Rt MIIOSE SURPRISE 11-h NOR

REVERSE Boa M INOR ••

ST. A La .. N'S DELICHT MINOR

ST. C LEMENT's Bos ~fiNOR S T. Sllolo,.•s D ouBLl:s •.

S INCL£ CouRT MINOR .•

SounrWARK D ELIC HT MI NOR

STEDMAN Dou&Lr;s

STED MAN TRIPLES

l'agt

S4

58

Clj

90

57 48 56

53 67

33

33 2.)

66

23 63 55 57

so 47 5 1

59 38 38

STEDMAII SLOw CouRSE Dou8LES ~ 9 SUPERLATIV E SU RPRISE MAJ OR • • n TULIP MINOR.. 58 W~STMINSTRM SuRPRISE MI NOR 57 YORK SURrRISE MIN OR 6~

Y oRKS II Ik E SuRPRISE MAJ OR 8J

Explanations of Technical Terms

AFTER BELL . . BACKWARD HUNTING BI::LL BEFORE . . BELL IN THE HuNT Boa-THE STANDARD l3oe CAMBRIDGE PLACES CouRSE BELL .. CouRSING ORDER CoURT PLACES CROSS SECTION DouBLE METHODS . . EIGHTHS PLACE METllOOS HALF Tun"' HOLT'S SINGLES KENT PLACES .. LENGTHENING LEAD Bon LONG THIRDS .. NATURAL CouRSING ORDER OXFORD PLACES QUICK BELL QUICK SIX SECONDS PLACE METHODS SECTION SIXTHS PLACE METHODS SKELETON COUHSE SLOW SIX SLOW WORK (SLOW BELL) STEDMAN WHOLE TURN SURPRISE METHODS SYMMETRICAL MF.THODS TURNING PLACE.> WHOLE TURN ..

• • • •

See po.ge 2~

~g

2' 28 21

18 . . 25, 74 .. •9. 25

51 55 '7 21

4' 32

.. 1R, 34 .~7 30 27

34 40 39 21

~5 22

ll

39 41 41 61 16 17 41

RIGHT, WRONG. When a bell leads at handstroke and backstroke it is said to lead right, and when a bell leads at backstroke and handstroke it is . said to lead wrong. When a place is made at bandstroke and backstroke that place is said to be made right, and when a place is made at backstroke and hand stroke that place is said to be made wrong.

The terms Right (R) and Wrong (W) are also used to indicate the positions of the hells used for observation when calling bobs and singles. In Minor methods the tenor is said to be Wrong when it is dodging in 5-6 up and Right when it is dodging in s-6 down. In Major a hoh at the Wrong is called when the tenor is dodging in 7-8 up ; a bob at Home (or Right) is called when the tenor' is dod~ing in 7-8 down ; and at the Middle (M) when it is dodginll: in 5-6 down.

Preface

IT is not a very easy task lo attempt the revision of a book like Standard Methods, a classic of well-tried and proven merits. On the one hand there is the natural reluctance to alter any­thing that Jasper Snowdon wrote, on the other the fact that a text book to be of real value must be up to date. Since the book was first published in r88r there has been a great develop­ment in change-ringing. Far more methods are practised, new ideas have come into fashion, and new ways of expressing old ideas, and good as the book is, and permanent as is most of what it contains, it was bound by the mere lapse of years to become somewhat old fashioned and out of date.

Indeed already one revision had become necessary, and in 1908 William Snowdon thoroughly overhauled it, and altered and improved it in many ways. Now thirty years later it has been decided to give the reader the benefit of the developments of the last years and once more bring it up to date.

After two such drastic and thorough revisions not much of Jasper Snowdon's work remains, but if the book is not as he wrote it, it is at least pretty much, I believe, as he would have written it had he been alive to-day.

The question may be asked-it is sometimes asked- What are the " standard " methods ? So far as eight bell ringing goes, the best answer is that the standard methods arc those which a competent and well-equipped ringer may at any time need when he goes to a ringing meeting or into a strange belfry. They include one or two which have been rung ever since the art was, and which, we need not doubt, always will be rung; but the group as a whole has changed, though slowly, from time to time and will continue to change. ln the eighteenth century the standard methods were Plain and Double Bob, Grandsjre and

8 STANDARD ~IETHOOS

Oxford Treble Bob. Soon after the year 18oo Stedman and Kent Treble Bob were added, but Double Bob was dropped. The great revival of ringing towards the end of the century added Double Norwich, and the three Surprise Methods-Cambridge, Superlative, and London. In the years before the war Bristol Surprise took its place among the number.

To-day the group is not quite the same. Oxford Treble Bob, for so many years the most popular of all Major methods, has almost become obsolete, and is seldom practised even in its last home, the Eastern Counties. On the other hand there are one or two methods which may fairly now be termed standard methods. Little Bob is frequently rung and probably has come to stay. Rutland Surprise, perhaps, and Yorkshire Surprise certainly, must be included in the group, and there are a few others-Ashtead, for instance-which seem as if they are likely to join the select circle.

But no one can say definitely. This is a case where the prophets are usually confounded by the event. Duffield, which was to revolutionise ten and twelve bell ringing, and which was introduced to the Exercise by one of the very best text books we possess, has proved a complete failure ; Double Oxford Major which is given by nearly every book on ringing is seldom practised; Albion Treble Bob, " the most even and regular of any Treble Bob method," is not looked at; and Norfolk Surprise which five and twenty years ago began to be extensively practised, is now forgotten. On the other hand Cambridge, which to the experts of forty years ago was almost everything a method should not be, has become the most popular of all Surprise methods, supplanting Superlative which to those same experts was the queen of Major methods.

Apart from one or two of the simpler ones it is not easy to say what are the standard Minor methods. Six bell ringing has been very much developed of late years, the number of methods practised by the more advanced companies is very large, and no two men perhaps would pick exactly the same twenty-four for inclusion in a book like this. The present selection is that

PREFACE 9

made by William Snowdon in IC)08, and is as good as any. At any rate it is better than the group printed by his brother in the first edition and taken from those usually practised in his time, a group which includes Yorkshire Court, College Single, Violet, Duke of York, Woodbine, College Pleasure, City Delight and Superlative Surprise, all of which are now considered irregular and are obsolete.

r have to express my gratitude to Miss Margaret Snowdon for allowing me to associate my name with those of Jasper and William Snowdon, and to thank my two friends, Ernest Turner and Wilfrid Wilson for their help and advice.

j. ARMIGER TROLLOPE.

Ealing, Easter, 1939·

How to Learn a Method

HALF a century of experience has abundantly convinced r ingers that the best aid to learning a method is the one introduced by Jasper Snowdon in the first edition of Standard Methods, the connected line drawn through the positions of one of the figures in a written course--the " blue line" of the diagrams of this book.

Far better than anything else the blue line isolates the work of one bell, and shows it as what it really is, a journey, simpler or more complex as the case may be, through the other bells. The learner should get this idea of. a method as a journey and as continual movement into his head from the very start, for it is the essential thing in change-ringing; and the first thought which must always be in the ringer's mind is not What bell do I strike over ? but Where should I be ?

Starting with the idea of a method being a journey the Ieamer will consider all the rules for ringing it as directions for finding a way across country. The blue line takes the place of a map showing the course of the path a man must take, and just as the man who knows the course of his path needs no other directions to find his journey's end, so the man who knows the blue line can ring the method without any other rules. And so it happens that many men, including members of the most advanced bands, ttsc no other means of learning a method. They never read verbal instructions; they never study figures ; they rely solely on a form of the blue line, which is a lined diagram without figures, and which, much foreshortened, can be drawn on a single page of a small pocket book. This is called a Skeleton Course.*

The advantages of a skeleton course are many, and the learner should accustom himself not merely to pricking the figures of the course of any method. but also to drawing the skeleton course.

• See example oo poco 16.

12 STIINDIIRD METHODS

The chief advantage of the skeleton course is that it shows clearly the minimum amount of what the ringer must know, and it can be visualised as a whole. The learner should get into his mind a mental picture of the skeleton course as a diagram, or, to revert to the simile we used above, as a map of the path he must take. If he does this he will not go wrong in his work any more than the man who has in his mind a map of his path will go wrong in his journey.

But though the skeleton course will teach the learner the bare essentials of what he should know, there is very much which it will not teach him. The man who has a map which shows the direction of his path and that alone, will be able to find his journey's end all right, but he will learn nothing of what will happen on his way, nothing about the scenery he will view, nothing about the hills he must climb, nothing about the inns where he may rest, nothing about people he will meet. And in a similar way a skeleton course will tell you where you must be yourself, but nothing about the other people, nothing about where you may expect to meet other bells, nothing about what the treble (which can always be a guide to you) is doing, nothing about the music you may expect to hear.

A knowledge of these things adds very much to the interest of ringing, and the time will come, if the learner is to become i\

conductor, when they will be essential to him. Moreover, if through lapse of memory his skeleton course should fail him temporarily, they will give him directions to help him on his way. So long as you know your map you need no signpost ; but if your map fails you and you come to cross roads you will find a signpost helpful. And as you take your journey through the bells you will find that there are many signposts. Some are so plain to see that you can hardly miss them, others require sharper eyes; but they are there all the same, and their value is not only that they tell you that you are on the right path, but that other people are right as well. The man who is beginning to learn (and for long after) should not trouble about whether other people are right or wrong (he has enough to do to look after himself}, but the time may come

How TO LEARN A METHOD 13

when he is a conductor, and then he will find out the value of having accustomed himself to observing things.

There is one other reason for not relying entirely on the skeleton course in learning a method, which is that what is easily learnt is easily forgotten. It does not cause an experienced ringer much trouble to memorise the skeleton course of a new method well enough to go and ring a peal of it, but it is a common experience that methods so learnt are usually forgotten in a few weeks' time and have to be learnt again if they have to be rung again. Every ringer should have the standard methods in his mind firmer than that, whether he has usually opportunities to practise all of them or not.

Bearing these things in mind the reader will now realise what is the value of the verbal directions which follow in this book, and how they should be used. They are not intended to be complete in themselves. They are not intended as rules to be learnt by heart. What they are intended to do is to assist the reader in studying the figures of the method, and the skeleton course, and to point out to him what he should look for there. He will then be able to take an intelligent interest in a method apart from the actual ringing ; for no ringer can ever reach the first rank, or even get full value out of the ringing he does even of the simplest methods. if he confines himself to what he can learn when actually in tl1e belfry, and does not study the matter outside.

It is the fault of most beginners, and a source of constant dis­appointment to their instructors that they expect to be taught to ring in the very limited time that a band can give to the practical instruction of probationers. The beginner should learn his methods outside the tower, and his opportunities for ringing should be fully used for putting into practice what he has already learnt.

It is true, of course, that many men cannot readily associate what they read in books or what they are told outside the steeple with what happens when they have hold of a bell rope ; but

STANDARD METHODS

their difficulties will largely disappear if they try when they are studying a method outside the tower, to visualise what will happen inside. As they trace the path of a bell in the skeleton course of a new· method, they can in their mind be pulling the rope which will put the bell in its place ; and as they read that they must here or there meet or dodge with the treble, they can Jnentally turn their eyes to that bell.

This is a habit which will serve even the most advanced ringer and the man who, as he walks down the street. can in his mind's eye see hjmself and seven others in a belfry, and can mentally go through the process of ringing the course of a new method. need never fear to take part in an attempt for a peal of even the most complex method in which he has not yet struck a blow.

A man cannot know too much about the method he hopes to ring ; but a warning must be given. It is a mistake to try and swot up a method with the idea of having your mind crammed full of everything which can be known about it. When you came to ring you would probably find your brain clogged by the very amount of material you had set it to work on. You should con­c~ntrate on the essential things, and they should be in your active and conscious mind. All the rest should have been assimilated, ~d ~e in your subconscious brain to be called upon if needed.

Although the rules for ringing are generally similar, every method has its own particular rules ; and although in the long run all the rules of a method come to much the same thing, there are different ways of using them, and no two ringers probably use exactly the same way when ringing the complicated systems. Generally speaking there are two main methods. One is to learn the skeleton ~ourse, the other is to ring by the position of the treble. The first is most used in the advanced methods, the other in the simpler ones; but the two are complementary, and can generally be used together. When you ring by the treble you shape your journey by the signposts. When you ring by the skeleton course you follow the map. The wise traveller does both.

How TO LEARN A METHOD

How the treble can be used as a guide we shall see when we come to particular methods.

It is better not to try and learn a skeleton course as a whole, but to divide it into definite parts; and there are two ways in which the dividing can be done.

One is to learn the method a lead at a time. In learning Double Norwich, for instance, the ringer will take the work of the second and get that thoroughly into his mind and memory. At the end of the lead he will find that the bell is in sevenths, so he must next learn the work of the seventh. That bell at the lead end falls into fourths, so the work of the fourth is next learnt. And so on until the whole of the course is completed.

This is not usually a very good way of dividing up the work (in Double Norwich it is definitely a bad way), but it has two advantages. The ringer will always know exactly where his bell starts in the plain course and when he takes a rope will not have to ask Where do I start ? a question which usually lowers him subtly in the estimation of some men- thou·gb it really should not, since no man, "not even the youngest," need be ashamed of showing that he does not know everytlllng.

The other advantage arises from the growing practice of ringing more methods than one spliced together, which we may expect in the future to be a common thing instead of the prerogative of a select few, as it was not long since. The methods are spliced at the lead ends, and to ring them it is essential that a man should know how every bell starts in a lead, and almost essential that he should know where it finishes. With the knowledge as a matter of course of where every bell is at the beginning and end of a lead, spliced ringing loses most of its difficulties to a ringer who possesses an alert intelligence and a ready memory.

Generally the better way of dividing the work of the methods is to take the divisions which they themselves naturally provide. What they are we shall see when we come to deal with the methods in detail. It is worth pointing out that this way of

16 STANDARD METHODS

dividing the work was first explained systematically by Jasper Snowdon in the first edition of this book published in r88r.

There is yet another way of dividing the work of a method which will be found very useful. This is to treat the work above the treble as a whole and the work below the treble as another whole, and to note carefully how the work starts from and ends with the treble's path. When a man is learning a method he should not try to divide the work in this way, but when he has become proficient he should adopt the plan as an addition to his other knowledge.

The value of it lies in the fact that very often above the treble a method is exactly the same as another method, and below the treble exactly the same as a third method. For instance, York Surprise Mit).or is exactly the same as Cambridge Minor above the t reb)e and as London Minor below the treble. It is evident therefore that a man who thoroughly knows Cambridge and London and who knows how the work of those methods starts from and ends with the treble's path, can without any further study go and ring York.

This is not an isolated or uncommon instance. We shall come across others later, and in these days, when so many new Major t:nethods are being rung, this way of treating a method is often very useful. The man who realises that above the treble both Yorkshire and Rutland Surprise Major are exactly the same as Cambridge has saved himself half the trouble of learning those tnethods.

All methods now deemed to be worthy of being practised are what is called symmetrical,* and this has a definite and important result. Twice in the skeleton course there is a position when the bell, having done half its work, begins to do the other half in

. • This term is used in a technical and particular sense o! those methods in wbicb tbe places made in tbo first half lead are exactly balanced by others made in the second ball lead. The sense is not quite the same as wbeo one reads that (sa y) Double Norwich or Bristol Slltpfise is a very symmetrical method although the former meaning is included in tbe other.

How To LEARN A METHOD 17

exactly the reverse order. These positions are two places, one made when the treble is leading full ; the other when it is lying full behind ; and of course these places are exactly half a course apart. They are called the Turning Places of the method.

Now tum to the diagrams and examine the blue line of each of the different methods. In Bob Major you will find these two Turning Places in seconds place and a whole pull on the front. In Kent and Oxford Treble Bob in eighths place and the middle whole pull of the Slow Work. In Double Norwich in eighths place and a whole pull on the lead. And so on.

When you come to a Turning Place you know that you must proceed to do backwards what you have just done forwards.

In double methods the bells work from the back in an exactly similar way to what they work from the front, and this causes another kind of reversal. If you will take the page of Diagrams which gives Double Norwich Court Bob, or Superlative, or Double Oxford, and hold it up to a mirror and then compare the blue line in the glass with the original you will find that the two blue lines are exactly alike although the figures are reversed. That is the essential feature of a double method.

In addition to the two Turning Places where the work is repeated backwards, there are in double methods two positions where the work is also repeated backwards, but from behind instead of from the front, or from the front instead of from behind. These two positions in Major are when you pass the treble in 4- 5 going up and coming down.

In Double Norwich in the first lead the second, going up, passes the treble in 4-5 which is one of the reversing positions. Turn to Diagrams, examine the red line of the treble and the blue line of the second in the first lead and a half ; then turn the page upside down and examine it again, and you will find that the diagram is exactly the same.

At first the beginner will look upon hunting up and hunting down as two diametrically opposite things (as indeed to a large extent they are). But as he gets more experienced he will realise

IS STANI)ARII MF.THODS

that except for direction they are essentially the same, and he can accustom himself to working from the back by the same rules as he uses from the front.

In a double method the two reversals mean that the path of a bell throughout a course can be learnt from a quarter of it, though a beginner is not advised to try and ring it so. •

In all even-bell methods the place which is made at the bob acts as a Turning Place, and the ringer who has made it proceeds .to repeat in reverse order the work he has just completed.

A learner is generally told verbally and in books that work in change-ringing consists of a combination of three things­hunting, dodging. and place-making-and that is so ; but when he comes to practise several methods he will fi nd that there are also bits of work, made up of these three, which occur again and again in different methods, and which can be treated and learnt aS entities. Such are Kent Places, Oxford Places, the Treble Bob Slow Work, Stedman Whole Turns, Court Places, Cambridge Places, and others. If each of t hese is treated and learnt as a whole the task of memorising a new method is very much simplified.

F or instance, how much simpler it is for the ringer to say to himself, " I must make Cambridge Places in 5-{) up," knowing exactly what Cambridge P laces are, rather than to have to say, " I must dodge in s-{) ; then I must make sixths place and then ·fifths ; then dodge with the treble ; then make sixths again and fifths again, and dodge once more." Or again the direction to make Kent Places in 5-{) down, would convey a clear and <iefi.nite impression to his mind that he must make two hand­stroke places and work with another bell. So with the others which we will deal with later as we come to them.

One of the things which cannot be learnt from the skeleton course, but must be studied in the figures, is the Coursing Order of the beils. We shall have something to say about this later, and the reader is advised to study the matter carefully. Coursing order forced itself on the attention of ringers from the beginning.

• See d~tlons for Superlative bt(:r.

How TO LEARN A METHOD 19

but early writers never attempted really to understand it except vaguely, or to define it, and their ideas seem to have differed according to the method they were dealing with. The Glossary* definition-" The order in which the bells come down to lead or course each other "-has enough truth in it to be misleading.

Coursing order is the order in which the bells follow each other when all are plain hunting. t When the bells are not all plain hunting there is strictly speaking no common coursing order, although a part of the bells may have a coursing order proper to themselves. But it is convenient to take the coursing order of the bells at the lead ends as the " natural " coursing order of the whole course, and to note the deviations from it in the interior of the leads. This will be explained more fully later.

We have urged the beginner to learn his methods outside the belfry and not to wait until he has actually the rope in his hands. This is especially necessary for the sake of good striking. Far too many ringers think they can ring a method if they can go through a course without missing a dodge or a place; but to ring a method correctly means not only that the right bells are struck over, but that they are struck over properly. When a man is in sixths he should be in sixths exactly, not somewhere about. In other words, good striking is a part of method ringing, not merely a desirable quality which may or may not be acquired after the method is learnt. What happens too often is that a beginner attempts to ring a method before he has thoroughly learnt it, with the result that he is far too much occupied in trying to fmd out where he should be to concern himself with the way he is striking.

But good striking should come first. Actually it takes more skill and more practice to ring and strike Treble Bob really well than it does to ring Cambridge or Superlative in the way it is often performed. The best striking is as rare as it is delightful to listen to. Perhaps it only happens when a band of first-class

• A. Glossary of Techn.c~l Terms, by H. E. Bulwer, 1904. Issued by tbe Central C•aaeN. t Early writers usc lbe word •t course " as a verb in much the s.1me seasc as we use the

word "bunt."

20 STANDARD METHODS

strikers is peal-ringing and the bells have " settled down to a beat," as the saying is ; which means that the whole band, hands and minds and ears, are all acting as one, in perfect hannony and concord.

Really good striking cannot be taught. There every one must minister to himself, and the beginner should cultivate a sense of rhythm, for good striking is not " clock-work," though it is often described as such. It is something much more artistic, and can best be described as rhythm. Some men have defective ears and a defective sense of rhythm, and they will scarcely ever be really good ringers though they may score peals of London and Bristol and many another Surprise Method. But every one should try to do his best, and here is a test which everyone can apply to himself. If he is always satisfied (to himself) with the way he strikes, he may be sure that he is not a really good striker and most probably is a bad one.

Variations of Methods. Bobs and Singles.

IN the course of the last thirty or forty years certain rules relating to methods, which had aU along been more or less recognised by the Exercise, have been definitely adopted by the Central Council and accepted by ringers generally.

One of these is that the lead ends of the plain course of any even-bell method must always be the same as the lead ends of the plain course o{ Plain Bob, though not necessarily in the same order ; and that there must never be any internal place made at a lead end except when a bob or single is made. The hand and back rows at the lead end of the plain course of any Minor method are always the same as the hand and back rows of Bob Minor ; those of any Major method are always the same as the hand and back rows of Bob Major ; and so on.

Two things follow from this. The first is that every even-bell method has two variations, one in which Seconds Place is made at the lead end, the other in which the extreme place is made. In Minor these two places are seconds and sixths; in Major they are seconds and eights. Methods di";de into two classes-on six bells Seconds Place methods and Sixths Place methods ; on eight bells Seconds Place methods and Eighths Place methods; and so on.

Not all these variations are of practical use. In some cases the bells will come round at the first lead end ; in others a bell will lie four blows behind, and that nowadays is a thing not allowed.

The second thing is that there are standard bobs and singles for all methods of the same class.

In any Seconds Place method the bob is always made by moving the seconds place to fourths•

l l 4 l6S ll436S ---- instead of ---141356 lll4S6

• Seconds Place Majur mclhods b3ve b<<n ruua wilh a Sitths Place bob, but they are exceptions due to peculiar circumslane<:>.

22 SrANUARD 1!ErHoos

In Sixths Place Minor methods the bob is always made by moving sixths place to fourths.

1325~6 132546 --- instead of ----I 13 56 4 I 1 3 4 5 6

In Eighths Place Major methods the bob is made either by moving eighths place to sixths or to fourths.

In Seconds Place methods on all numbers the singles are made by the bells in 2-3-4 lying still.

In Sixths Place Minor methods the singles are made by the bells in 4-5-6 lying still.

In Eighths Place Major methods with a sixths place bob the singles are made by the bells in 6-7-8 lying still.

Singles are not generally used in Eighths Place Major methods with a fourths place boh, but if they should be, the proper way is to make the bells in 2-3-4 lie still.

These things interest the learner in this way. In the first place he will realise that there are two methods generally accounted as quite separate which are really the same except for the dodging or omission of dodging at the lead end. The work in the interior of the leads is the same, but in one method you dodge when the treble leads and in the other you do not. The work inside the leads and the actual rows are the same, but the leads come in a different order. The learner who realises this will have much less difficulty in ringing a variety of methods.

In a similar way the fact that the bobs are standard ones. and that the same thing happens in all methods of the same class, is a great help to the ringer and a very great help to the conductor. If a bob is called at (say) the Wrong in the plain course of any Seconds Place Major method, simple or complex, the same three bells will each do the same thing, whether the method be Plain Bob, or Superlative, or Cambridge, or London, or any other.

Plain Bob* THIS is the oldest of all methods except the Plain Changes. It dates from the early years of the seventeenth century.

In Plain Bob all the bells plain hunt until the treble leads, whe• the beU which is turned from the lead makes Seconds Place and the bells above dodge in pairs.

The order in which the work is done is very reguJar. I n Minor after making Seconds Place you dodge in 3- 4 down, then in 5-{) down, then in 5-6 up, then in 3-4 up, and then make Seconds again. In Major. after dodging in 5-6 down, you dodge in 7-8 down, and in 7- 8 up before dodging in 5-6 up.

The method can be rung by remembering the order in which the dodges are made and another way to learn it is as follows :-

BoP. MINOR.

After making Seconds Place, I .--Turn the treble from behind 2.-Pass the treble in 4-5

~.-Pass the treble in 3-4

4.- Pass the treble in 2-3 s.-Treble turns you from lead

RoB ~1AJOR. After making Seconds Place,

x.-Tum the treble from behind 2.- Pass the treble in 6- 7 J.- ·Pass the treble in 5· (>

4.-Pass the treble in 4- 5 5.-Pass the treble in 3-4 6.-Pass the treble in 2- 3 7.-Treble turns you from lead

Dodge in 3-4 down. Dodge in 5-{) down

after lying full. Dodge in 5-{) up

before lying full. Dodge in 3- 4 up. Make Seconds and

lead again.

Dodge in 3-4 down. Dodge in 5-6 down. Dodge in 7-8 down. Dodge in 7-8 up. Dodge in 5-6 up. Dodge in 3- 4 up. Make Seconds and

lead again.

• For hill rules for rin~ing th i> method lhe learuer should study Rt>Pesig/U, by Jasper W. Snow<lon.

STANDARD METHODS

At a bob Fourths Place is made instead of Seconds.

I. The bell which would have made Seconds Place runs straight out behind and makes Seconds Place at the next lead end.

2. The bell which would have dodged in 3- 4 down, runs straight to the lead and takes the

lll4S6 ll-4365

I -4 l J 5 t. 41ll65

treble off. At the next lead end it will dodge in 3-4 down.

3· The bell which would have dodged in 3-4 up. makes F ourths Place and hunts down to the lead. At the next lead end it will dodge in 5-6 down. This bell is said to make the bob.

The bobs on all numbers of bells are made in a similar way, and this is the standard bob for all even-bell methods in which Seconds Place is made at the lead end.*

At a Single the bells in seconds, thirds and fourths lie still.

1. The bell which the treble turns from the lead works exactly as at a plain lead.

l I 3 -4 S 6 12 4365

ll 4 3St. lll16S

2. The bell which would have dodged in 3-4 up works as at a bob. It makes Fourths Place and hunts down to the lead.

3· The bell which would have dodged in 3- 4 down makes Thirds Place and hunts straight up behind. At the next lead end it will make Seconds Place. This bell is said to make the Single.

All the dodging and place making in Plain Bob is done at back stroke.

• Only lhe band ami backstroke ro"' at the treble's whole pull (n front are lhe same in all methods.

Coursing Order

IF you will turn to the Diagrams and examine the plain course of Bob Major you will see that the bells follow each other in their hunting and come to the lead in a regular order which remains the same throughout the course except that the treble is in a different position in each lead. The order is 8 7 53 2 4 6 8, and it is cyclical. This is the order in which the bells will be met throughout the course. Whenever a bob is made the order of three bells is altered.

The beginner should as soon as possible take notice of this coursing order, for he will find it extremely useful not only in ringing the method, but (more especially) in conducting.

The first two bells to notice are those which are hunting immediately before and after you. The bell you take off the lead is called your Course Bell, and you will follow that bell through­out the ringing until either you or it makes a bob. When at a bob one of you runs out and the other runs in, the order is still maintained. The only time when the two are parted is when the treble is between them.

The bell which takes you off the lead is called your After Bell, and will follow you in the same way that you follow your course bell.

If you know your course bell and after bell you will not easily lose yourself, nor cause a shift of course. The two beUs are easily picked up by noticing, immediately after a bob is called, which bell you tum from the front or behind and which turns you.

At first the beginner will not bother about the coursing order of all the bells, but very soon he will find it quite easy to detect. The seventh is almost always next after the tenor, and if you notice the order in which you meet the other bells, and your own position among them, you will have the coursing order of the bells. between the making of two bobs. After any bob there is a new coursing order which can be picked up in eight or ten changes.

STANDARD M£-rHODS

The annexed diagram shows the cours­ing order of the plain course of Bob Major. The outer ring gives the order in which the seven working bells follow one another throughout and the order in which they will be met. The inner ring gives the position of the treble in each successive lead. In the first lead it is between the third and second and the coursing order is 5 3 I 2 4 6 8 7 5· In the second lead it is between the fifth and third, and the coursing order is 7 5 I J 2 4 6 8 7. And so on.

When Fourths Place is made at a bob the only alteration in the coursing order is that the bell making the bob is put behind the two bells which run in and out, instead of being in front of them. Thus if a bob is made at the end of the plain course of Bob Major, the third, which makes the bob, is put behind the second and the fourth, and the new coursing order is 8 7 5 2 4 3 6 8 instead of 8 7 5 3 2 4 6 8.

Whep Sixths Place is made at a bob in an Eighths Place method, the bell which makes the bob is put in front of the two bells which dodge in 7-8 instead of being behind them. A bob at 6 in the plain course of Double Norwich Major produces the coursing order 8 7 5 4 3 2 6 8 instead of 8 7 5 3 2 4 6 8.

A single in any even-bell method simply reverses the positions in coursing order of the two bells which make the internal places.

If you know the coursing order of the bells when you are ringing Plain Bob and allow for the altered position of the treble in each successive lead, you wiU know exactly evP.ry bell you must strike over.

In conducting the value of coursing order can hardly be overestimated. The old plan of checking whether the bells were right or not was to learn certain distinctive changes at intervals

CoUliSINC ORDER 27

(say the part ends of the peal), then to wait until those changes should come up and see if they did. But if you know the coursing order you can at any time teU whether the bells are right or not. For instance, if you meet the bells in the order 8 7 5 3 2 4 6 (including your own bell) you know that you are ringing the plain course. Similarly if you meet them in the order 8 7 6 3 ~ 4 you know that you are ringing the course 2 3 s 6 4. without having to notice in what order the beUs strike at the course end.

In the more complex methods the coursing order of the bells is not nearly so easy to detect, but it is still there, and is still just as useful to the conductor, and the man who early accustoms himself to notice it in a simple method like Plain Bob will find it much easier to spot it when he comes to practise more advanced methods.

Note. - In aJl methods that are now practised the lead ends of the plain course are always the same as those in Plain Bob though not necessarily in t he same order. In six-beU methods they are the same as Bob Minor, in eight-bell methods they are the same as Bob Major. The distinctive feature of these lead ends is that the bells arc coursing in the same order at every lead end in the course, and this order is the " natural " coursing order for the whole course, although in some methods (indeed in all methods except Plain Bob, Heverse Bob, Double Bob, and Grandsire) it is more or less broken in the interior of the leads. To get the natural coursing order of any course read t he bells at the natural course end* alternately as 2 4 6 8 7 53 is read from 2 3 4 56 7 8. Thus in Bob Major after the course end 6 4 z 3 5 produced by calling hobs at W.M. and H., the coursing order is 6 2 58 7 3 4· Note too that this order is cyclical and can be read sta~ting from any bell. In the above example the sixth follows the fourth.

·-- ---------• The natural course end is the row which will turn up if the bells are allowed to run t•

t.be course end witllout any bobs hein.; m:t..,t. 1o a pea: or tour.h. tho r.our~ a~ rung are ftlOde up vtry oll..a ot part> of llJtur~l course>, e~ch of wbich h.t$ it$ own rwtt~<•l e<>Ut>e end.

Grandsire*

THE six-score of Grandsire Doubles was composed by Robert Roan about the year r6so. and first appears in the Tintim1alogia by Richard Duckworth (r668). Fabian Stedman gives Grandsire Triples under the name of College Triples in the Campanalogia (1677). The method was rung in its modern form on seven and nine bells towards the end of the seventeenth century, and on eleven bells about 1720.

Grandsire is rung on all odd numbers of bells from five to elevent and is the odd bell equivalent of Plain Bob. In it all the bells plain hunt until after the treble has led its whole pull. Thirds Place is then made at handstroke causing the bells above to dodge in pairs. The result of Thirds Place being made at hand­stroke instead of Seconds at backstroke (as in Plain Bob), is that the bell coursing the treble is not affected, but continues plain hunting throughout the course or until a bob or single is made. This bell is called the Bell in the Hunt. [t acts as a second treble and will always be passed immediately after the treble.

The rules for ringing the method arc exactly the same as those for Plain Bob, except that the place making and dodging is done at handstroke in 4- 5, 6-7, etc., instead of at backstroke in 3-4, 5--{), etc., and except that the bobs and singles are different. The beginner should notice this similarity between Plain Bob and Grandsire, but since for practical purposes the difference between work at handstroke and work at backstroke is (at any rate to the learner) very great, he had better treat the two methods as separate. But when later he comes to study more complex methods like Double Court Minor and Double Court Triples, Double Norwich Major and Double Norwich Caters, and others he will find the similarity striking and helpful.

• For a full auount of this method with its history, peals. composition, etc., see Gr411drire, by jasper W. Snowdon.

t It bas been rung on even numbers of bells, but the practice i> against the best traditions of tbe Exercise aud bas ooeo condemned by the Central CouocU.

Grandsire Doubles

Durv of a bell after making Thirds Place.

I.- Pass the treble in 3-4

2.-Pass the treble in 2-3

3.-Treble turns you from lead

This bell is said to be the Bell Before. PLAIN LBAO. Bon LIIAo.

4 3 5 2 I -4 3 S 2 I -4 53 I 2 -4 53 I l 5-4 I 3 l 5 -4 I 3 l S I -4 l 3 5 I -4 l 3 I S l -4 3 I 5 -4 3 l I 2 53 -4 I -4 S 2 3

l I S -4 3 -4 I S 3 2 2 S I 3 -4 -4 S I 2 3 S l 3 I -4 5 -4 2 I 3 5 3 2 -4 I S l -4 3 I

Dodge in 4-5 __ down after lying' fu II.

Dodge in 4-5 up before lying full.

Make Thirds Place over treble and the bell in the hunt and lead again.

StNGLB: LXAD.

-4 3 52 I -4 S 3 I l 5 -4 I 3 l 5 I 4 l 3 I 5 -4 3 l I S -4 l 3

5 I -4 3 l S -4 I 2 3 -4 S l I 3 -4 l 5 3 I

The ' bob is not made by moving the Thirds Place as the ~S'econds"P1ace is moved in Plain, but by making an extra Thirds

Place at handstroke as the treble strikes the first blow of its whole pull on the lead. This causes an extra dodge on the two hind bells.

The effect on the bells is as follows:---

I. The bell that has been in the Hunt double dodges in 4- 5 down, and at the next lead end will dodge once in 4-5 up.

2. The bell which would have dodged in 4-5 down after lying behin<;l, double dodges (with the bell that has been in the Hunt)

30 STANDARD METHODS

in 4-5 up before lying behind, and at the next lead end will make Thirds Place.

3· The bell which would have dodged in 4-5 up, makes the extra Thirds Place, takes the treble off the lead, and becomes the new Bell in the Hunt.

4· The work of the bell Before is not affected.

Notice that a bob will cause you to dodge in the position next after that in which you would have dodged had there been no bob. In other words it cuts a lead out of your work. This applies to the bobs on all numbers.

At a Single the bells above Thirds work as a t a bob. The ordinary T hirds Place and the extra bob Thirds Place are both made (but in this case by the same bell), and in addition the two bells in 2-3 lie still at backstroke when the treble is leading full. T he result is:-

I. The bell which is turned by the treble makes Seconds Place over it, leads a whole pull, and becomes the new Bell in the Hunt.

2 . The bell which at a plain lead would have dodged in 4- 5 up, lies four blows in Thirds,* and turns the Bell in the Hunt from the lead. It has become the Bell Before. These four blows are called Long Thirds.

By studying the figures the learner can find out where he strikes over the treble and the Bell in the Hunt on his way from back to front, or front to back, between the dodges, and this will be helpful provided he does not get into the habit of ringing the method by remembering the actual bells he strikes over rather than the positions he should be in. This is a temptation which easily besets the band which habitually rings Grandsire Doubles {especially if each man sticks to the same bell), but it is a way of ringing which leads nowhere.

• It ro akes both Thirds !'lac.,. at bantlstroke and the additlooal Thirds at bac~ltroke.

Grandsire Triples

DuTY of a bell after making Thirds Place.

I.-Pass the treble in 5-6 2.-Pass the treble in 4-5 3.- Pass the treble in 3-4 4.-Pass the t reble in 2-3 5·- Treble turns you from lead

PtAll< LUD. 6~ 7 3 521 6 7~ 53 1 2 7 &5 ~1 32 75 & 1~2 3 57 1 6 243 5 17 263 4 15 2 73 64 1 2 53 7~ 6

21 57364 1 5137 ~ 6 5231 4 76 532 4 167 35 42 617 3 4 5 6 271

Bo~ LEAn. 6 4 73521 67~53 1 2 765 41 31 7561 4 23 5 716 2 ~ 3 517 26 3 4 1 5761 4 3 1 75 263 ~

71 562 4 3 751263 ~ 572 1 3 64 51731~6 2537 4 16 135 4 761

Dodge in 4-5 down. Dodge in 6-7 down. Dodge in 6-J up. Dodge in 4- 5 up. Make Thirds Place

and lead again. !-\T ~CLE LKA.D. 6 ~ 73521

67 -4 5312 765 4 131 7561 4 1 3 5716143 517163 ~

15761 4 3 157163 ~

5 1 762~3

57 1 163 4 752136 ~ 72531 ~ 6 1735 4 16 2374561

The bobs and singles are made in a similar way to those on five bells, except that there is extra dodging in 6- 7. At a bob the work of the bells is affected as foUows :-

I. The bell which has been in the Hunt double dodges in 4-5 down, and at the next lead end will dodge in 6-7 down.

2. The bell which would have dodged in 4- 5 down, double dodges in 6-? down and at the next lead end will dodge in 6-7 up.

3· The bell which would have dodged in 6-7 down, double dodges in 6-7 op, and at the next lead end will dodge in 4-5 up.

STANDARD METHODS

4· The bell which would have dodged in 6-7 up, double dodges in 4- 5 up and at the next lead end will be Before.

5· The bell which would have dodged in 4-5 up, makes Thirds Place, takes the treble off, and becomes the new Bell in the Hunt.

6. The Bell Before works as at a plain lead. If the conductor calls the bobs at the correct time, when the

treble is striking in thirds on its way down, the ringers will know that they must dodge at the next handstroke. If you strike over the treble in 2-3 at backstroke after you have led you know that you must make Thirds Place and enter the Hunt. If you have been in the Hunt you know that you must double dodge in 4-5 down and immediately strike over the treble on your way to lead.

Singles are made as on five bells. The bell which the treble turns from the lead makes Seconds Place and enters the Hunt. The bell which strikes over the treble in 2- 3 at backstroke after leading, makes Long Thirds and at the next lead end will dodge in 4-5 down.

In former times the pe~s of Grandsire Triples mostly rung were Holt's compositions. These require special singles, made at backstroke when the treble is leading, by the bells in 4- 5 and 6- 7 lying still in addition to the place making and dodging at either a plain lead or a bob lead. (Hence they are called Plain Lead Singles and Bob Singles, and collectively Holt's Singles.) As never more than two are used in a peal, and as the peals themselves are now seldom rung, the reader need not concern himself about these singles, unless he is to attempt a peal containing them, when the conductor should tell him before starting exactly what he will have to do.

Grandsire retains its natural coursing order throughout the course in the same way that Plain Bob does, but it should be noted that the Bell in the Hunt always follows the treble, and therefore those two bells, and not the treble alone, will be in a different position in the coursing order in each successive lead .

After a bob the coursing order of three of the bells is altered. The new Bell in the Hunt has gone to join the treble; its place

GRA:-IDStR£ TRIPLES 33

is taken by the bell which was Before when the bob was called ; and that bell is followed by the old Bell in the Hunt.

It is just as easy in Grandsire as in Plain Bob to spot your Course Bell and your After Bell and this is an important thing to do, for the method is one in which a shift can very easily occur if there is only a slight mistake in the ringing.

For the conductor the coursing order of Grandsire Triples has a special importance. Much of the calling in the method is done, not, as in most other methods by watching the position of an observation bell, but by learning which are the bells Before when the bobs are made, and watching for the leads in which they, in their turn, course in front of the treble.•

Grandsire Caters is rung by the same rules as Grandsire Triples allowing for the fact that there are two extra bells.

Oxford and Kent Treble Bob t

OxFORD T REBLE Boa MI~OR was apparently first practised in the City of Oxford in the third q~arter of the seventeenth century. It is given in Stedman's Campanalogia (1677). The Major was first rung by the Union Scholars in the early eighteenth century and in consequence for a hundred years was frequently called Union Bob. The Kent variation was first rung about 1775 at Leeds in Kent where peals of both Major and Royal were accom­plished. The Society of Cumberland Youths scored the first peal of Maximus in 1794 and called it Cumberland Treble Bob. The method appears in the Clavis (1788) as New Treble Bob. The title Kent is first given to it in Shipway's Campa1~alogia (r8r6).

The principal feature of the Treble Bob system is that the treble, instead of having a plain hunting path as in Plain Bob and Grandsire, has a dodging or Treble Bob path which consists

• The beU tbat ma~es Thirds Place is caUed lbe flell Belore, because it bas bun eou..,.ins in froal of the treble not because wben m~kin~: Tbirds it is lower tban all the olber working bells.

t These methods are v<ry lully deal I with in j asper Suowdo"'• A Trtalue on Treble Bob in the J asper Snowdon Cba.~ge·R inging Series.

34 STANDARD METHODS

of three steps forward and one step backward repeated con­tinually. In other words, the ringer of the treble, after leading full must dodge in 1-2, then in 3-4. then in s-<>. and so on until he lies his whole pull behind, after which he repeats the perform­ance in reverse order until he reaches the lead again. (See Diagrams.) As he comes to the bells in turn, he will dodge with one, pass the next at backstroke without dodging, dodge with the next and so on successively throughout.

A very little experimental pricking will show that if every bell had a similar path. repetition of changes would occur, and there­fore the bells other than the treble must have a distinctive work.

Oxford and Kent are the two primary Treble Bob methods, and in them the distinctive work is of two kinds, one of which is the same in both methods and the other is different.

r. The bell which takes the treble off the lead, dodges with it and leads a whole pull. It then makes Seconds Place arid leads another whole pull, and repeats this process until the treble returns to the lead. The two bells then dodge together. the treble leads full, and the other passes into 3-4. This work. which is common to both Oxford and Kent, is called the Slow Work, and the bell which is doing it is called the Bell in the Slow.

O}n·oRD PLACe:s. Kli-NT PLAC VS.

-4 l S I 6 3 3 2 S I 6 4 l .. I 5 3 6 2 3 I S 4 6 ---- -----2 I -4 3 S 6 2 I 3 4 56 I 2 3 .. 6 S I 2 3 4 6 5 2 I 3 .. S 6 l I 4 3 56 I l 4 3 6 S 1 2 .. 3 6 s ---- ---I 4 l 6 3 S I 4 2 6 3 S 4 I 6 l 5 3 4 I l 6 S 3 146235 I 4 6 l 3 5 4 I 2 6 5 3 416253 - ·-- - ---121563 4 6 I 5 l 3

2. While the treble is dodging in I-2, before and after its whole pull, certain places are made in 3-4. In Oxford .the two bells in 3- 4. when the treble is dodging in 1 - 2 after leading full, make places right together. At the end of the lead, when the treble is dodging in 1 - 2 before leading full, the same two bells make

OxFoRD TREBLE Bon 35

another and similar pair of places ; bot whereas in the first pair of places they struck in the order A B, in the second pair they will strike in the order B A.

In Kent when the treble dodges in 1-2 both before and after leading full, the bells in 3-4 make two pairs of places wrong. The same two bells which make the places at the beginning of the lead, when the treble is dodging after leading full, will make the places (in the same order) at the end of the lead, when the treble is dodging before leading full.

The work of the bells in both Oxford and Kent is very regular. After leaving the Slow each bell hunts Treble Bob fashion until it has again to enter the Slow, the only exceptions being the place making, and that there is no dodging in r--2 save with the treble. The ringer must observe when he has to make the first of the places and the rest will follow in a regular sequence.

The general rule is that you always make a place or places when you are in 3- 4 with the treble below you, hut never at any other time. Thus you continue your Treble Bob hunting on whatever number of bells you are ringing until on your way down to lead you strike in fourths at handstroke. If this blow is over the treble you will of course dodge with it; but if the treble is in 1-2 you will make a place or places. But you should not delay finding out whether the treble will be in 1- 2 until the last moment, and you can find out by noticing whether on your way down you have passed the treble going up. You will also notice that if you dodge with the treble in 3-4 on your way down, you will pass that bell (without dodging) in 6-7* on your way up, and that is a warning that you are due for place making when you next reach 3-4 on your way down.

The order of the work is as follows:-

OxFoRD TREBLE BoB.

1. After leaving the Slow make Fourths Place right (at back­stroke) and return to the lead.

• ~-S in Minor, 6-? in Major, 8·9 lo Royal.

STANDARn 1fETHons

2. Hunt up Treble Bob fashion, turn the treble from behind, course that bell down, and make Thirds Place right.

3· Hunt up behind without coming to the lead and continue the regular Treble Bob hunting until you dodge with the treble in 3-4 ~n your way down.

4· Pass the treble (without dodging) in 6...r; up*, hunt down and make Thirds Place right.

5· Hunt up in front of the treble, hunt down, and after leading make Fourths Place right and enter the Slow.

KENT TREBLE BoB.

I. After leaving the Slow make Thirds and Fourths Places wrong (at handstroke) and hunt up in front of the treble.

2. After hunting down and leading, pass the treble in 2 - 3 and again make Thirds and Fourths Places up.

3· Hunt up behind and continue the regular Treble Bob work until you dodge with the treble in 3- 4 on your way down.

4· Pass the treble (without dodging) in 6-7 up,* hunt down and make Fourths and Thirds Places wrong (at handstroke).

5· Lead and course the treble up behind, follow that bell down, make Fourths and Thirds Places again, and enter the Slow.

Notice that the positiong in which you meet the treble come in a regular succession, and that you dodge with the treble twice (going up and coming down), hut the next two times you meet it (going up and coming down) you pass it without dodging.

Notice too that the bell which in Oxford courses the treble down from behind is the bell which has just been in the Slow, but in Kent it is the bell which is just going into the Slow. And the bell which in Oxford the treble courses down is the bell going into the Slow, but in Kent it is the bell which has just come out of the Slow.

• 4-S in Minor, 6-7 in Major, 8-9 in Roy~!.

KENT TREBL£ BoB 37

In Kent Treble Bob the natural coursing order of the bells is retained almost as well, and is just as easy to pick up as is the coursing order in Plain Bob. The bells throughout the course retain the natural coursing order except that in each successive lead the treble takes the position of the bell in the Slow.

In Oxford the coursing order is much more difficult to find out because the bells in 3-4 at the lead end are reversed in position by the first pair of places and do not regain their right order until the second pair is made.* Thus, instead of the coursing order being 8 7 5 3 2 4 6 throughout the plain course with the treble in place of 2 4 6 8 7 53 in the successive leads, the coursing order of the first lead is I 3 6 8 7 54, of the second 6 I 2 8 7 53. of the third 2 8 I 4 7 5 3. and so on. This makes the variation considerably more difficult to ring on the higher numbers, and much more difficult to conduct properly. The bells are in their natural coursing order at the lead ends.

In Oxford the correct making of the first Thirds Place requires careful watching for if it is missed the ringer is far out of his road and will be on the front when he should be up behind. vVbereas missed places in Kent mean bad ringing but do not put the ringer off his path.

In Oxford and Kent, Fourths Place is made at the bob. In Oxford the bell which has already made Fourths Place after coming out of the Slow and has J. ust

Ol<FORt>. K EI'IT. made Thirds Place at t l1e following 2 1 ,. 3 5 6 2 1 3 • s 6 lead end, makes Fourths and then 1 2 3 • 6 s • 2 3 • 6 5

another Thirds. At the next lead end ; ~ ! ~ ~ ~ ~ i ! ~ ~ ~ it will make Fourths Place and enter ---- - -·----the Slow. The bells in 5-6 in Minor ! i i ~ ! ~ ! i ; ~ ! ~ and 5- 6 and 7-8 in Major make two I .. 3 2 s 6 I .. 3 2 s 6 extra dodges (three in all) and then • 1 2 3 6 5 • 1 3 1 6 s continue their Treble Bob hunting. --·--- --- --

A bob at a lead end reproduces the bells in 5-6 and 7-8 in the same positions as they were at the previous lead end, and so -----------·------- --------- - - -

• The first and second pair within the lead made by the same two bells, not tb-. pair roa<le bc'lore tbe treble's wbole pull and the pair ~llcr.

STANDARD METHODS

delays by one lead the time when they are due to make places and enter the Slow. A bob of this sort is called a lengthening lead bob.*

The bells immediately leaving and entering the Slow are not affected by the bob.

In Kent the bob is similar to that in Oxford except that the Fourths Place is made by the bell which is making Fourths Place (handstroke) in the second of the two places in the lead after leaving the Slow.

It is the bell which, after leading full, has passed the treble in 2-3 . It now lies four blows in fourths, makes Thirds Place at handstroke and goes to lead again. At the next lead end it will make Fourths and Thirds Places on its way down, and enter the Slow.

No singles are needed in Treble Bob and none are ever used. The coursing order of the bells in Oxford and Kent is affected

by bobs in a similar way to that in Plain Bob, because, although all the bells except two are concerned in the bob, the dodging in 5~ and 7-8 does not alter the coursing order of the bells in those positions. After any bob is made in Kent the new coursing order can readily be picked up.

Stedm an's Principle t

STEDMAN DouBLES was composed by Fabian Stedman shortly before r677 and appeared in his Campanalogia which was pub­lished in that year. The method was extended to seven bells by the Norwich Scholars in 1731, and to nine and eleven bells later on ; but the first peal of Caters was rung by the ancient Society of College Youths in 1787. and the first peal of Cinqucs by the Society of College Youths in 1788.

• It Is pointed out to me tbat this Is faulty oomeoclature lor the bob repeats the work of a lead but does oot lengthen the lead. It lengthens the course. The erpr .. <lon, however, Is gene1oliy used and muSt I ~uppose ~land.-J .A.T.

t For a full account of this method see Stt4'"""· by j. Armiger Troliope. La tbe Jasper Soowdon Cbange·Ringlug Series.

SrEDMAN's PRtNCli'LE 39

The construction of this method differs from that of nearly every other one, but is quite simple. On three beUs there are six changes to be made and they can be pricked in two ways. and two ways only. In one the belis hWlt forwards, and this is called (for reasons which wiU be seen presently) the Quick Six. In the other the bells hunt backwards, and this is called the Slow Six.

In Stedman's Principle the front three bells ring one of these Sixes, the hind bells dodging in pairs. Then a parting change is made producing a different set of three bells in the front and different pairs of bells behind. The other Six is then rung on the front bells and another parting change is made. The twelve changes are repeated until the bells come round at the end of the course.

This construction is suitable only for odd

THP. PORWA9:1)

oa Qt:JeK Sr.-. I l l

l I 3 1 l I 3 l I 3 1 , I 3 1 I l l

TH'&. BA.CXWAAD

oa Stow Srx. I l 3

I l 1 l I l 3 l I l l I l I l I 2 l

numbers of beUs,* but the method applies 1 1 1 4

s with equal facility to Doubles, Triples. Caters P.c. ----and Cinques. The work of all the bells is alike. 1 1 4 l s There is no plain hunting treble as in Plain ! ~ : ~ ~ Bob or Grandsire, and no Treble Bob hunting 4 1 1 s 3

treble as in Kent ; consequently the ringing : ; ! ~· i may be begun from any one of the rows in J>.c -------either of the two Sixes. The usual custom l I s 4 3

I l S 3 4 is to start from the middle of the Quick Six and 1 s 2 4 3

this is the best plan both in practice and in s I l l -4

theory. For the ringine- begins and ends with 5 2 1 4 3 u 2 S I 3 -4

a dodge, and the first twelve rows (which arc r.c. ----the unit of the course, corresponding to the s l 3 1 -4

lead of most methods), form a symmetrical block. Only in Caters and Cinque:>, and then for special reasons, is this custom ever departed from. ---------------__________ .. ___ --.

• Sever•! attempts b>ve been t•l~de to a<lapt the method I<) even numbe~ of bells 30d pe<ols of Stedman Major and Sled~nan Royal h.ave been rung ; but tbey all do violence to the •ee•pted rules of cbange·ciJ>,::ing.

STANDARD METHODS

Although the three-bell work on the front consists of alternate quick and slow Sixes the whole of it is called by the comprehensive title of the Slow.

Stedman has the advantage that the rules for ringing it are practically the same on all numbers. The man who knows Stedman Doubles can ring Stedman Triples and Stedman Caters with no more trouble than is caused by the extra ropesight. It is convenient, therefore to explain Stedman Doubles and Stedman Triples together, and in studying the following directions the reader should have both the five-bell and the seven-bell diagrams before him.

The best way to learn the method is to divide the work into three parts.

I. After leaving the Slow you double dodge in 4-5 up. On five bells you then lie a whole pull behind and double dodge in 4- 5 down. On seven bells, after dodging in 4-5 up, you double dodge in 6-? up, lie the whole pull, and double dodge in 6-7 down, and then in 4-5 down. On nine bells you get extra dodging in 8--9 up and down. It is regular dodging hunting similar to the Treble Bob hunting except that the dodging is double and at handstrokc. As you come to the bells T~" QutcK woaK. you dodge with one, pass the next (at hand- - - - 5 -

stroke) without dodging, and dodge with the next. All the work of the method above thirds consists of this double dodging hunting which is never varied except by a bob or single.

2. After dodging in 4-5 down you go to the

-- s - s-s - ­s -­- 5--- 5

front work and you can do so in either of two s · ways. In one you hunt directly down to the front, lead a whole pull right, hunt up again into 4-5. and resume the double dodging. In this work you are said to be the Quick Bell.

3. The other way is much more complex and must be care­fully learnt. It consists of :-

First Whole Turn. First Half Turn.

Last Half Tum. Last Whole Turn.

STEDMAN'S PRINCIPLE

A Whole Turn consists of two whole pulls on the front separated by a single blow in seconds. One of the whole pulls is made right, the other is made wrong, and the distinction between the first and last Whole Turns is that in the former you make the first whole pull at back and hand, and the second at hand and back, the single blow in seconds being at back ; while in the latter you make the first whole pull at hand and back, and the second at back and hand, the single blow in seconds being at hand .

Each of the Half Turns is a single blow on the lead, the first being at handstroke and the last at backstroke.

Directly you come down out of 4-5 . and also after you have made either a Whole Turn or a Half Tum you make Thirds Place. In all there are flve of these places, and they are made alternately right and wrong.

The bell that does this work is said to be the Slow Bell. After making the last Whole Turn and Thirds Place right it moves into 4-5 and resumes the double dodging.

TKR SLOW W ORK . 4 -

- - .. --- -. - -- .. - - -4 - - - -- .. - --

(

4 - - - -

First Whole Turn ---

First Half Turn

4 - - --4 - - -­-. ---. - -. - 4 -

.. - -- 4 -- -. - - 4 -. -4 - -

Last Hall Turn -----. ---. ---- 4 ---. - --

(·-- --4 -- - -

L:J.St Who le ·rorn ----- 4 - - -4 -- -­

, 4 - - - -- 4 -- - 4 .. -. -- - .. -

It is in this Slow Work that the chief difficulty of Stedman lies and the learner should carefully study how the places are made and whether at hand.stroke or backstroke. The diagram is a symmetrical one and easily learnt, but as there is no fixed treble there are very few guides to help you, and you must definitely know what you should be doing without relying on any assistance from other people. One of the commonest mistakes is that a man

STANDARD METHODS

who should be striking a single blow at handstroke on the front in his first Half Turn thinks that he is beginning the whole pull right of his last Whole Turn.

Now since there are two ways of coming to the front, you must know before you get there whether you are to be a quick bell or a slow bell. For this there are several rules and all of them useful.

I. If you have gone out a quick bell, when next you return you will be a slow bell ; and if you have gone out a slow bell, when next you return you will be a quick bell. This is the best and safest rule because you are not dependent on other people, and if they go wrong they will not put you wrong also ; but there is an exception to it caused by bobs which we will notice presently, and the danger in depending entirely on it lies in the fact that there is plenty of time (especially on the higher numbers) for you to forget which way you actually did go out. Kevertheless, it should be the rule you mainly rely on, with the others as additional helps.

2 . The second rule is to watch the work of your course bell. ln Doubles this is the bell with which you dodged in 4-5 up. In Triples it is the bell with which you dodged in~ up, and which will be dodging in 4-5 down while you are dodging in 6-7 down. (Here again bobs make a difference which we will deal with later.) If when you get into 4- 5 down you strike your first blow (back­stroke) in fourths over your course bell, you will be a quick bell; but if you strike your last blow in fourths over your course bell you will be a slow bell. In other words if when you are in 4-5 your course bell runs straight down to the front and leads a whole pull right that shows he is a quick bell and so you must be slow. But if he stops to make Thirds Place on his way to the front you will overtake him when you first get into fourths.

3· When you .are dodging in 4- 5 down observe how the three bells in front are leading. If they are leading right then that Six is a quick one and you will be a slow bell. But if they are leading wrong then that Six is a slow one and you will be a quick bell.

Srr.DMAN's PRINCIPLE 43

4· The following rule should not be used by beginners nor by anybody else except as a last resource, for it puts off the decision until the very last moment. When you come out of 4- 5 into thirds there are two bells below you. You strike one blow over the one and the next over the other, and accordingly as it brings you into Seconds or compels you to make Thirds Place so you are a quick or a slow bell. An experienced ringer can usually tell, by the attitude of the two men in front of him, whether they want him to come straight down to lead or to make the place, and this " AB trick," as it is called, can be used by a really competent man without making the suspicion of a bad blow. But it is not for the beginner.

When you use any of these last three rules you are to a large extent at the mercy of other people. They will not avail you much if when you get into 4- 5 you find the three bells in the Slow are in a muddle. When your turn comes to go to the front you will only add to the confusion. But if you are quite sure from the way you last came out whether you will be a quick or a slow bell, you will help to steady the ringing and perhaps save the peal.

When the beginner has thoroughly learnt these rules he will know enough to enable him to ring the course of the method, and they are all that he really needs to know ; but there arc a few other things which when he gets more practised he will find useful.

I. You make your first Whole Turn round a bell which is making its last Half Turn. When you make your first Half Turn the same bell will make its last Whole Turn round you. It must then make Thirds Place and leave the Slow.

2. When you are making your last Half Turn another bell is making its first Whole Turn round you, and you will make your Whole Turn round the same bell. When it is making its last Half Turn you will leave the Slow but the other must remain in it.

3· When you lead the first whole pull of your first Whole Turn you take off the lead the bell which has just finished its last

STANDARD METHODS

Whole Turn. That bell must then make Thirds Place and leave the Slow.

4· When you have finished your first Whole Tum the bell that takes you off the lead is a quick bell and must at once leave the Slow.

5· The bell that you take off the lead when you begin your last Whole Tum is a quick bell and must at once leave the Slow.

6. When you are a quick bell the bell that you take off the lead has just finished its first Whole Tum. It must remain in the Slow. The bell that takes you off is just beginning its last Whole Turn. It will make Thirds Place and course you up to behind.

7· When you come out a quick bell the bell you dodge with in 4-5 must go in a quick bell; and when you come out a slow bell the bell you dodge with in 4-5 must go in a slow bell.

Bobs and Singles. The plain course of Stedman Doubles consists of sixty changes or half the total number, and to get the extent two singles only are needed.

The single is made in the middle of either a quick or a slow Six by the two bells in 4-5 lying still at 2 3 1 1 5

backstroke. It makes the following alterations in the work of the two bells.

l l 4 I 5 2 3 4 5 I l 1 3 I 5

-S 1 2 3 I 5 4 3 l 5 I 3 1 2 I 5

The bell that is dodging in 4-5 up has struck one blow behind at backstroke and dodged into fourths at handstrokc. It now makes Fourths Place at backstroke, dodges once more in 4-5 (this time down) and enters the Slow in the same way it came out. If 1 3 1 2 5

it came out a quick bell it will return a quick bell, and if it came out a slow bell it will return a slow bell.

The bell that is dodging in 4- 5 down has struck one blow in fourths and one in fifths. It now lies a whole pull behind (at backstroke) strikes one blow in fourths and lies another whole pull behind (handstroke) and then double dodges in 4-5 down. When it enters the Slow it does so in the same way that it came out. If it came out a quick bell it returns a quick bell ; and if it came out a slow bell it returns a slow bell.

STEDMAN's P·RrNCJPLt: 45

The easiest way of making the single is for the two hind bells to lie still at backstroke instead of dodging and then to continue as the fourth and fifth start in the plain course, taking care which way they must go into the Slow.

In Triples the bob is made at the parting of the Sixes. The bell which was dodging in 4-5 up makes Fifths Place and double dodgP-s m 4-5 down. If it came out quick, it will go down slow ; and if it came out slow it will go down quick.

The two bells in 6-7 make three extra dodges- one for the bob and two for the following Six. When they go down they will enter the Slow in the opposite way to which they would have done had there been no bob.

' 123 ~ 567 2135476 231~567 --·-- Bob 32~1576 2345167 2~31576

4 235167 4 321576 3425167 - ---- Bob 4 352176

The one which came out slow will return slow ; the one which came out quick will return quick. Bobs at consecutive Six-ends retain the same two bells dodging behind and each bob alters the way in which the bells will enter the Slow. You shouJd therefore particularly notice when you are bobbed behind whether the number of bobs is odd or even.

If you are dodging in 6- 7 up at a bob you will still retain your course bell, for he is your companion in the dodging ; but if you are dodging in 6-1 down you will get a new course bell and you must find out who he is. He is the bell which made the bob and is dodging in 4-5 down while you are dodging in 6-7 down; and you may know him by remembering the bell you struck over at backstroke before the bob was made.

When a number of bobs is called consecutively a ringer some­times loses count of his dodging and is at a Joss to know which is the last ; and this is especially likely if the bobs are not called at exactly the right time. When you are dodging in 6- 7 up this should not cause any great difficulty, for you can usually teU from the attitude of the man you are working with whether he expects to dodge once more or whether he is preparing to go down into 4-5, and there is plenty of time to adjust yourself to the circum­stances.

STANDARD MtTRODS

But when you are dodging in 6-7 down, unless you are fully prepared to go into 4- 5 at the proper moment you will make a bad blow and upset the striking. You can avoid this if you remember that in dodging in 6-J down you strike over one bell three times at backstroke, and three times only. At each successive bob it will be a different bell, and the third timeos a) warning to you that the Six is ended, and, if there are no more bobs, you must at once go down into 4-5.

Smgles are made in the same way as bobs except that the two hind bells lie still instead of dodging. :_~~~~~

The bell which is dodging in 4-5 up makes 3 2 .. r 6 s 1

Fifths Place exactly as at a bob. i ! ; ~ ~ ; ~ The bell which is dodging in 6- 7 up lies a whole ~ 2 3 6 , 1 s

pull behind exactly as at a plain Six-end, except .. 3 2 r 6 s 1

that he strikes both blows of his whole pull over ~~~ s the same bell, the one with which he has already .. 3 6 2 r 7 s been dodging. He will continue dodging with : : ~ ~ ; ; ~ that bell, but in reverse order. The single does not 6 3 .. r 2 s 7

alter the way in which he will go into the Slow. 3 6 .. l I 7 s 3-461257 He gets a new course bell, the bell which made ___ _ _

Fifths Place. : -t 3 1 6 5 2 1

The bell which has fmished its dodging in 6-7 down and was preparing to go into 4- 5, makes Sixth Place and begins the double dodging in 6-7 up afresh. He too will go down to the Slow in the same way he would have done had there been no call. His new course bell is the bell which was behind with him at the single.

When you are behind at a single with another man take care that the right one comes away first.

Owing to the alternate quick and slow work there is no natural coursing order of all the bells in a course of Stedman. When in the plain course you go up after quick you have a different course bell and after bell to those you get when you go up after slow.

* * * The methods we have been dealing with so far are those in

which the rules for ringing them are practically the same for all

STEDMAN'S PRINCIPLE

the numbers of bells on which the methods are rung. We now come to methods which arc rung by rules peculiar to particular numbers of bells.

St. Simon's Doubles

THIS method dates from the late seventeenth century. The treble has a plain hunting path. The two bells which are left on the front when the treble moves up into thirds, continue dodging until the treble returns and parts them. Seconds Place is made at the lead end, the two bells in 3-4 dodge and the bell behind lies four blows.

Duty of a bell after making Seconds Place :-I. Lead a whole pull and double dodge in r-2 up. 2. Pass the treble in 2-3, and dodge in 3- 4 up. J. Make Thirds Place from the back and hunt up. 4· Lie four blows behind. S· Make Thirds Place from the back and hunt up. 6. Turn the treble from behind and dodge in 3-4 down. 7· Pass the treble in 2-3. double dodge in r-2 down, lead a

whole pull, and make Seconds Place.

At a bob:-1. The bell which would have made Seconds P lace runs straight

up behind, is turned by the treble, and makes the first Thirds Place from behind.

2. The bell which would have dodged in 3-4 down runs in and takes the treble off the lead. It then double dodges in r-:2 up.

3· The bell which would have dodged in 3-4 up makes Fourths Place and returns to the lead, where it double dodges in I-2 down.

The general rule is that you make Thirds Place from behind and hunt up unless the treble is below you. When the treble is leading or in 2-3. down or up, the bells ring Plain Bob.

New Doubles NoTWITHSTANDI~G its name this is one of the very earliest of methods. It dates from the middle of the seventeenth century and first appeared in print in Richard Duckworth's Tintinnalogia (r668).

The bells on the front double dodge as in St. Simon's. Seconds Place is made at the lead end, and Thirds Place from behind unless the treble is below. There are two extra Thirds Places, both at handstroke, one when the treble is beginning its whole pull in front and the other after it has finished it. They are similar to the two places in a bobbed lead of Grandsire and they cause a somewhat complex path for the bells above thirds. It consists of Thirds Place (wrong) one blow behind (at hand) and Thirds Place (right). The treble is now turned from behind and a Long Work Behind follows which consists of three whole pulls behind (one wrong, one right, and one wrong) separated by two single blows in fourths. The bell is now turned by the treble. It makes Thirds Place (right), strikes one blow behind, makes Thirds Place (\\>Tong) passes the treble in 2- 3 and goes to the double dodge in r-2 down.

If this work be examined in the Diagrams it will be found to be very symmetrical and not difficult to memorise.

D uty of a bell after making Seconds Place:­I. Lead and double dodge in r-2 up.

2. P ass the treble in 2-3, make Thirds, one blow in fifths, and make Thirds.

3. T urn treble and do Long Work behind.

4· Make Thirds, one blow in fifths, anrl make Thirds. 5· Pass the treble in 2-3, double dodge in r-2 down, lead and

make Seconds Place.

At a bob:-

r. The bell which would have made Seconds Place runs out, makes Thirds Place and returns to the lead where it ciodges in r-2 down.

NEw Dount.ES 49

2. The bell which has just come from the front and made fhirds Place, takes the treble off the lead and dodges in 1-2 up.

3· The bell which has made T hirds Place and one blow behind, nakes Fourths Place and another single blow behind, after which t makes Thirds Place and goes to Long Work Behind.

Stedman's Slow Course Doubles

THIS was first printed by Shipway in his Campanalogia (1816).

The work of the bells is as follows :-

I. After treble turns you from the lead, hunt up behind, make Thirds Place from behind, hunt up behind again and down.

2. Pass the treble in 2-3 and do Short Work on the Front. fhis consists of two single blows on the front, one at hand and :me at back, separated by making Seconds Place (wrong).

3· Pass the treble in 2-3, hunt up behind, make Thirds Place, hunt up behind again and down.

4· Tum the treble from the lead and do Long Work on the Front. This is the reverse of the Long Work Behind of New Doubles. It consists of three whole pulls on the front, one right, :me wrong, and one right, separated by two single blows in :;econds.

In this method the only work above the treble is plain hunting.

The bob is made at handstroke as the treble is ;triking its first blow on the lead.

The bell which has just finished Short Work makes fhirds Place, takes the treble off the lead and begins

l 4 I 3 5 2 I 4 5 3 I 2 4 3 S I 4 2 5 3 4 I 52 3 4 S I 3 2

Long Work. The bell which was going to Long Work dodges in ~-5 down and goes to Short Work, and the bell that was going to Short Work dodges in 4-5 up and goes to Long Work after :naking Thirds and back. The bell which has just completed Long Work is not affected.

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