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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>In Worcester, we know "Worcester Surprise" is
not a surprise method (although it used to be rung here as such) and is properly
called Worcester Delight. It is an "irregular" method (i.e. non PB lead
ends) and can be rung as "London below and Oxford TB above"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>DB</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=richard@hHi6EiJ7CO8z1h1W08kf4XUKrDagVV6kUMeUSABfW7OhZf54Bml9iBw4p80yvuXafotSdX_1D5Kep6uRcfCKKZTkH4I.yahoo.invalid href="mailto:richard@eEWMjI7MyD2XPQV6CAKrbT95RSS-TYOUDqBRLHv6XuN4taGlh8Hn9U15aAjCn0RWdhF09nrNCKPECmcY9g.yahoo.invalid">Richard
Smith</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=bellhistorians@yahoogroups.com
href="mailto:bellhistorians@yahoogroups.com">bellhistorians@yahoogroups.com</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, November 01, 2011 2:41
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Bell Historians] Peals on
Six Bells</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><SPAN style="DISPLAY: none"> </SPAN>
<DIV id=ygrp-text>
<P>Chris Pickford wrote:<BR><BR>> Quite a number of five- and six-bell
peals were rung in <BR>> the C18th - try looking at Morris "History and
Art" and/or <BR>> at Cyril Wratten's collection of newspaper reports in
John <BR>> Eisel's excellent 2010 edition entitled "Order and <BR>>
Disorder in the Eighteenth Century: Newspaper extracts <BR>> about Church
Bells and Bellringing"<BR><BR>The earliest 5040+ of minor recorded in the
Felstead <BR>database was at St Mary's, Whitechapel, on 16 April 1737.
<BR>Morris [p.363, footnote 1] states:<BR><BR>At S. Mary's, Whitechapel, April
16, 1737, 5040 Minor<BR>was rung consisting of "seven compleat Surprise
six-bell<BR>peals, viz., 720 of Oxford Tripple Bob, Cambridge<BR>Surprise,
Morning Exercise, Bristol Surprise, Worcester<BR>Surprise and York Surprise,
containing 5,040 changes in 3<BR>hours 15 minutes. By a Society of
Compileers."<BR><BR>The 'performers' were James Tichbourne, James
Stuart,<BR>James Forsee, Edward Newton, Thomas Smallshaw and
William<BR>Barrett (who called the bobs). The treble and second men<BR>were
Eastern Scholars; third, fourth and Fifth London<BR>Youths, and tenor a
College Youth.<BR><BR>Snowdon, in giving this extract in Bell News, 1882,
p.<BR>162, states he may have made an error in copying only
six<BR>methods!<BR><BR>Oxford TB, Cambridge S, and Morning Exercise are almost
<BR>certainly the method that still bear these names, as <BR>evidenced by
their inclusion in Campanalogia Improved [p. <BR>90-4, 115 and 111,
respectively, in Monk's 1766 edition]. I <BR>would speculate that York
Surprise might the method now know <BR>as York Delight; in any case, I'm sure
it's not the modern <BR>York Surprise with it's wrong-place underwork. What
Bristol <BR>and Worcester are, I know not.<BR><BR>I have misplaced my Bell
News DVD so cannot look this <BR>reference up to see what the source was (if,
indeed, Snowdon <BR>gives one). Morris quotes other early performances, such
as <BR>7 Minor in 1749 at Brandeston, Suffolk, which was recorded <BR>on a
peal board [p.363-4] which informs us that the seven <BR>extents were ring
"without intermission", removing any doubt <BR>we might have that the ringers
might have stopped for <BR>refreshment between extents.<BR><BR>As Chris says
and Morris also acknowledges, there may be <BR>earlier performances that have
gone unrecorded, or whose <BR>record lies undiscovered in some obscure
regional newspaper.<BR><BR>The tradition of ringing multiple extents, back to
back, is <BR>a fair bit older. The ASCY peal book contains extracts from <BR>a
c.1738 manuscript which states [c.f. Bill Cook's ASCY <BR>history, 1st Ed.,
p.20-1; or 2nd Ed., p.14]:<BR><BR>The first great performance we have any
account of was at<BR>St. Mary Overy's on the six largest bells as follows
-<BR>November 18th, 1684, the College Youths rang three 720's,<BR>being the
first time that ever so much was rung without<BR>standing; the peals were
Oxford Treble Bob, College Single<BR>and Oxford Single - the whole number of
changes were<BR>2,160.<BR><BR>Even though I'm relying on a 21st century
edition of a 20th <BR>century book quoting a 19th century peal book drawing on
an <BR>18th century manuscript describing an 17th century event, <BR>the
account seems plausible enough and is consistent with <BR>other things we know
about ringing at the time. For <BR>example, the 1668 Tintinnalogia states that
"the greatest <BR>Peal thatever was Rang on 8 Bells, is 1680"
[p.132].<BR><BR>We know that by the time the trend for ringing peals of
<BR>5,000 or more changes took off in the 1720s, minor was out <BR>of fashion
in London, as evidenced by a rather poor verse <BR>penned by William Laughton
(an active London ringer in the <BR>1720s through 1740s),<BR><BR>Because
there's peals of twelve in town<BR>Shall five or six bells ne'er be rung?<BR>I
think 'tis a very stupid thing<BR>Of men that take delight to ring,<BR>To rail
at variety.<BR><BR>Indeed, I can't find any record of an ASCY six-bell peal
<BR>rung before 1851, though the College Youths may not be <BR>typical of
ringing in general. So we should not be too <BR>surprised if it took some
years before a peal of minor was <BR>rung. Was the Whitechapel peal in 1737
first? I doubt <BR>we'll ever know, though Snowdon's quote does not claim it
as <BR>such. It's entirely possible that the band themselves <BR>didn't
know.<BR><BR>RAS<BR></P></DIV><!-- end group email --></BODY></HTML>