[r-t] Fulbourn Surprise Minor

[Ted Steele]

On 06/06/2016 14:41, Richard Smith wrote:
>
> On 7 Dec 1789, "after a great number of unsuccessful attempts by
> professors of the art in various parts of the kingdom", the Cambridge
> Youths rang a 720 of "Fulbourn Surprize" at St Edwards, Cambridge.  Can
> anyone help identify this method?  The 720 was described as having 154
> bobs and 2 singles, so it's evidently not be a surprise method in the
> modern sense.
>
>> From the way it's been recorded in the Youths' records (and
> several newspapers), it's clear they regarded it as a significant
> achievement.  The band that rang it was very experienced; five of them
> had been in the long length of maximus at GSM a decade earlier and were
> or were to become members of the College Youths; the sixth ringer, who
> conducted the 720, had umpired the long peal of maximus.  So whilst
> there may be a degree of hyperbola in the description of it, it's clear
> the method (or perhaps the composition) was complicated by the standards
> of the time.
>
This may be relevant; 
<https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bmpMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA844&lpg=PA844&dq=Fulbourn+Surprize&source=bl&ots=OLMmdGvHTH&sig=0dqoEtVktm8evRkVq-7kVp7uj0Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjG0d6W1ZPNAhXDJMAKHS1uBHIQ6AEIMzAF#v=onepage&q=Fulbourn%20Surprize&f=false>.

It is an extract from The Table Book of William Hone and includes an 
item about a ballad relating to Fulbourn bells and and act of parliament 
to restore them, it includes the following:

  "Mr Charles Dawson was the author of the complete peal of Plain Bob 
called "The Fulbourn Surprise" with 154 bobs and 2 singles and 720 changes".

Might it in fact have been original? It is included in a letter that 
begins on the previous page, 843.

Ted