[r-t] Bobs only peal of Plain Bob Triples

[Richard Smith]

Robert Bennett wrote:

> The 1690 peal is not so well documented. Is there a peal board? Who would
> have composed the peal, and was there anything known about their
> compositions?

I have a vague idea I've seen a peal board, though it 
certainly won't be a contemporary board.  Perhaps one of the 
first Saturday regulars could check and if there is a board, 
photograph it when they're next there?

I've always been under the impression that almost everything 
about the 1690 peal was speculation.  It's mentioned in the 
early CY records, but they're been copied and reworded on 
several occasions and the originals no longer exist.  Those 
records describe it as a 5040 of Plain Bob Triples.  I'm 
fairly sure a composer isn't given -- certainly it isn't 
given in the extract I've seen.

Annable's notebook includes a method called Restoration 
Triples, though today we would recognise it as a peal of 
Plain Bob Triples with three different calls: a 123 bob, a 
12347 single, and a 12345 extreme.  The composition was 60 
homes: bbbbs bbbbs bbbbs bbbbx, twice repeated.  In a way, 
it's rather elegant.  The name suggests it dates from the 
1660s or shortly after which is consistent with its style, 
and, although it doesn't appear by name in Tintinnalogia 
(1668) or Campanalogia (1677), it or something very similar 
to it is described on page 132 of Tintinnalogia where it is 
implied that a 1680 of it had already been rung in 1668.

It seems plausible to me that, if a peal was rung in 1690, 
it was something similar to this Restoration Triples.  This 
might also explain why there's no record of any peals in the 
next 25 years.  Grandsire rapidly gained popularity at the 
expensive of the likes of Restoration Triples which may well 
have already been out of fashion in 1690.  If no extent of 
Grandsire (or of some other fashionable method) existed 
until 1715, it may have been that no-one wanted to ring a 
peal of something out-moded and unfashionable.

Obviously this is just a theory, but I think it seems to fit 
all the available evidence.

RAS