Editing Change ringing (section)

==History and modern culture==
Change ringing as we know it today emerged in England in the 17th century. To that era we can trace the origins of the earliest ringing societies, such as the ''Lincoln Cathedral Guild'', which claims to date to 1612<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lincolncathedral.com/xhtml/default.asp?UserLinkID=62279 |title=Company of Ringers |access-date=18 April 2007 |work=[[Lincoln Cathedral]] website |year=2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061029070725/http://www.lincolncathedral.com/xhtml/default.asp?UserLinkID=62279 |archive-date=October 29, 2006 }}</ref> or the ''Antient''{{sic}}<!--sic, please don't "correct" this spelling--> ''Society of Ringers of St Stephen'' in Bristol, which was founded in 1620 and lasted as a ringing society until the late 19th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ststephens.me.uk/web/the_city.htm#ringers |title=THE ANTIENT SOCIETY OF RINGERS |access-date=18 April 2007 |work=Website of St Stephen's, the parish church for the City of Bristol, England |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703100218/http://www.ststephens.me.uk/web/the_city.htm#ringers |archive-date=3 July 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The recreation began to flourish in earnest in the [[Stuart Restoration|Restoration]] era; an important milestone in the development of method ringing as a careful science was the 1668 publication by Richard Duckworth and [[Fabian Stedman]] of their book ''Tintinnalogia'', which promised in its subtitle to lay down "plain and easie Rules for Ringing all sorts of Plain Changes". Stedman followed this in 1677 with another famous early guide, ''Campanalogia.''

Throughout the years since, the [[group theory|group theoretical]] underpinnings of change ringing have been pursued by [[mathematicians]].  "Changes" can be viewed as permutations; sets of permutations constitute mathematical [[Group (mathematics)|groups]], which in turn can be depicted via so-called [[Cayley graph]]s, which in turn can be mapped onto [[polyhedron|polyhedra]].  <ref>Web pages:
*  Introduction to change ringing and group theory : [http://mathcs.holycross.edu/~groberts/Courses/MA110/Handouts/bells.pdf Mathematics and Music:  Change Ringing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100704044812/http://mathcs.holycross.edu/~groberts/Courses/MA110/Handouts/bells.pdf |date=2010-07-04 }}.
*  Introduction to change ringing and both group theory and graph theory (with references) : [http://math.lib.umn.edu/changeringing.html "The Mathematics of Change Ringing"].
*  Change ringing as directed graphs on polyhedra : [http://xweb.geos.ed.ac.uk/~hcp/bells/ Bell-ringing methods as polyhedra].
*  Change ringing graphs on polyhedra that can rotated via cursor : [http://www.ex-parrot.com/~richard/minimus/polyhedra/ Minimus Polyhedra].
Some literature on the mathematics of change ringing:
*  Ian Stewart, ''Another Fine Math You've Got Me Into'' (New York, New York : W.H. Freeman, 1992), Chapter 13 (pages 199-219).
*  F.J. Budden, ''The Fascination of Groups'', (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1972), Chapter 24: "Ringing the changes: groups and campanology," pages 451-479.
*  Arthur White and Robin Wilson (March 1995) [http://math.boisestate.edu/~tconklin/MATH124/Main/Notes/8%20Group%20Theory/Group%20Theory/The%20Hunting%20Group.pdf "The hunting group,"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090920091959/http://math.boisestate.edu/~tconklin/MATH124/Main/Notes/8%20Group%20Theory/Group%20Theory/The%20Hunting%20Group.pdf |date=September 20, 2009 }} ''The Mathematical Gazette'', vol. 79, no. 484, pages 5-16.
*  Arthur T. White (1987) "Ringing the cosets," ''American Mathematical Monthly'', vol. 94, pages 721-746.
See also the [[Steinhaus–Johnson–Trotter algorithm]].</ref>

Bells have been installed in towers around the world and many rings in the British Isles have been augmented to ten, twelve, fourteen, or even sixteen bells. Today change ringing is, particularly in England, a popular and commonplace sound, often issuing from a church tower before or after a service or wedding. While on these everyday occasions the ringers must usually content themselves with shorter "touches", each lasting a few minutes, for special occasions they often attempt a quarter-peal or peal, lasting approximately 45 minutes or three hours respectively. If a peal attempt succeeds, towers sometimes mark the occasion with a [[peal board]] mounted on the wall of the ringing chamber; at [[St Peter Mancroft]] in [[Norwich]] there is one documenting what is generally considered to have been the first true peal: 5040 changes of ''Plain Bob Triples'' (a method still popular today), rung 2 May 1715.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cccbr.org.uk/prc/pubs/bellsAndBellringing.php |title=Bells and Bellringing |last= |first= |date=December 19, 2011 |publisher=www.cccbr.org.uk |access-date=2022-07-20 |quote=a presentation prepared by the Publications Committee of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers |archive-date=2011-12-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111219042105/http://www.cccbr.org.uk/prc/pubs/bellsAndBellringing.php |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> There is some evidence there may have been an earlier peal (also Plain Bob Triples), rung January 7, 1690 at [[St Sepulchre-without-Newgate]] in the [[City of London]] by the [[Ancient Society of College Youths]].<ref>see [http://www.ascy.org.uk/his_landmarks.htm Landmarks in the History of the Society], from the ASCY.</ref> Today over 4000 peals are rung each year.

===Organisation and extent===
The [[Central Council of Church Bell Ringers]], founded in 1891, is dedicated to representing change ringers around the world. Most regional and local ringing guilds are affiliated with the council. Its journal, ''[[The Ringing World]]'',<ref>{{official website|www.ringingworld.co.uk|The Ringing World}}</ref> has been published weekly since 1911; in addition to news and features relating to bellringing and the bellringing community, it publishes records of achievements such as peals and quarter-peals. Ringers generally adhere to the Council's rules and definitions governing change ringing.

The Central Council, by means of its peal records, also keeps track of record length peals, both on tower bells and handbells. (The record for tower bells remains the 1963 Loughborough extent of Plain Bob Major [40,320 changes]; for handbells it was set in 2007 in Willingham, Cambridgeshire, with 72,000 changes of 100 different Treble Dodging Minor methods, taking just over 24 hours to ring<ref>{{cite web | url = http://peals.co.uk/pealdetails.asp?serno=H2007/0211 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151016214719/http://peals.co.uk/pealdetails.asp?serno=H2007%2F0211 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2015-10-16 | publisher = [[The Ringing World]] | work = peals.co.uk | title = 72000 Treble Dodging Minor (100m) | access-date = 2020-07-17 }}</ref>) More importantly, perhaps, along with keeping track of the first peal ever rung in a method, the Central Council controls the naming of new methods: it generally allows the first band to ring a method to name it.

Much ringing is carried out by bands of ringers meeting at their local tower to ring its bells. For the sake of variety, though, many ringers like to take occasional trips to make a ''tower grab'' ringing the bells of a less familiar tower. The setting, the church architecture, the chance to ring more bells than usual, the bells' unique tone, their ease or difficulty of ringing, and sometimes even the unusual means of accessing the ringing chamber can all be part of the attraction. The traditional means of finding bell towers, and still the most popular way today, is the book (and now internet database) ''[[Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers]]''.

{{as of|2018|June|30}} there are 7,141 English style rings in ringable condition.  The Netherlands, Belgium, Pakistan, India, and Spain have one each.  The Windward Isles and the Isle of Man have 2 each.  Canada and New Zealand 8 each.  The Channel Isles 11.  Africa as a continent has 13.  Scotland 23, Ireland 38, USA 48, Australia 61 and Wales 227.  The remaining 6,695 (94%) are in England (including three mobile rings).  World-wide there are 985 unringable rings, 930 in England, 55 in Wales and 12 elsewhere.<ref>{{Citation | title = County Lists from Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers | publisher = Central Council of Church Bell Ringers | url = http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/home.php | access-date = 20 July 2018 | archive-date = 10 October 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161010225541/http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/home.php | url-status = dead }}</ref>

===Number of bells===<!--[[Doubles (bells)]] and [[Triples]] redirect directly here.-->
Methods of change ringing are named for the number of working bells, or the bells that switch order within the change. It takes a pair to switch, and commonly the largest bell (the tenor) does not change place. For example, there may be six bells, only five of which work, allowing for only two pairs. A method of ringing for these bells would be called ''doubles''. Doubles is the most common group of methods rung in the [[United Kingdom]], since the majority of [[parish church]]es with bell towers in the UK are fitted with only six bells.

"Plain Bob Doubles" is a method rung on five bells whereas "Plain Bob Triples" is the same method rung on seven working bells.

There are two separate ways to refer to the number of bells. One way is used for even numbers, the other for an odd number.

{| class="wikitable" style="float: left; margin: 1em;"
|-
!colspan="2"|Even numbers of bells
|-
! Number of bells
! Name
|-
|  4
| Minimus
|-
|  6
| Minor
|-
|  8
| Major
|-
| 10
| Royal
|-
| 12
| Maximus
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="float: left; margin: 1em;"
|-
!colspan="2"|Odd numbers of bells
|-
! Number of bells
! Name
|-
|  3
| Singles
|-
|  5
| Doubles
|-
|  7
| Triples
|-
|  9
| Caters
|-
| 11
| Cinques
|}
{{clearboth}}

The name for 9 bells is pronounced "kate-ers" and comes from the French "quatres". The name for 11 bells also comes from the French and is pronounced "sinks" cf. [[Cinque Ports]].

The names refer to the number of bells which change places in each row.  With three bells only one pair can change, and so it is singles. With seven bells there are clearly three pairs with the one left over not moving this row.

===Named changes===
Mathematical abstraction though each row may be, some rows do have a musical or melodic meaning to the listener. Over the years, a number of these have acquired names — they are ''named changes''. Both the conductors directing call-change ringing and the ''composers'' coming up with plans for a bout of method ringing sometimes like to work their favourite named changes in. The table below lists some popular named changes on eight bells; many of these names are also applicable by extension on more or fewer bells.

::{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align:center;"| Change
! align-"center" | Name
|-
| 12345678 ({{Audio|Rounds.ogg|listen}})
| Rounds
|-
| 87654321 ({{Audio|Back Rounds.ogg|listen}})
| Back rounds or Reverse Rounds<ref>Some sources (e.g., [http://www.heatons.fsnet.co.uk/Ringing/Articles/Named.htm]) define back rounds slightly differently, as 76543218.</ref>
|-
| 13572468 ({{Audio|Queens.ogg|listen}})
| Queens ''(an apocryphal story says it appealed to [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]])''
|-
| 15263748 ({{Audio|Tittums.ogg|listen}})
| Tittums ''(so named because of the ti-tum ti-tum sound it makes)''
|}

Such names are often humorous; for example, the sequence 14235 on five bells is called ''weasels'' because it is the tune of the refrain to the children's song ''[[Pop Goes the Weasel]]''.  This is particularly effective at the end of ringing down.  The bells are in order, and so if not chimed leave a pause, the sequence becomes: 1..4..23.5 where a dot indicates a pause.

Called changes are listed at [https://web.archive.org/web/20110105133721/http://www.campaniles.co.uk/maw/callchanges.html MAW Call Change Collection]

===Striking===
Although neither call change nor method ringing produces conventional tunes, it is still the aim of the ringers to produce a pleasant sound. One of the most important aspects of this is ''good striking'' — not only should the bells never ''clash'' by sounding at the same moment, the bells should sound to a perfect rhythm, tapping out a steady beat.

It is the custom to leave a pause of one beat after every alternate row, i.e., after the ringing of each ‘backstroke’ row. This is called 'open handstroke' ringing (or open handstroke leading). In Devon, Cornwall and parts of Yorkshire, this custom is not followed when call-change ringing; instead the bells strike steadily without the pause. This latter custom is known as the ''closed-hand'' or ''cartwheel'' arrangement. However for method ringing the universal practice is to ring with open handstrokes, even in the South West of England.

Striking competitions are held where various bands of ringers attempt to ring with their best striking. They are judged on their number of ''faults'' (striking errors); the band with the fewest faults wins. These competitions are organized on regional and national levels, being particularly popular among the call-change ringers of [[Devon]] where it is customary to include the quality of the rise and lower of the bells as part of the judging criteria. Competitions for method ringers usually start "off the stay"—i.e., the bells are rung up before the competition begins.  At the annual [[National 12 Bell Striking Contest]] the bands are ringing methods and producing a different change approximately every 2.5 seconds, with a gap between bells of 0.21 seconds. To an expert ringer's ear at this level of competition a variation of a tenth of this would be discernible as a striking fault.

===Sport===
In 2016 readers of ''[[The Ringing World]]'' magazine wrote to insist that bell ringing was "an art and a sport", as demonstrated by regular "striking competitions". It was suggested that classification of change ringing as a sport by [[Sport England]] could save it from becoming obsolete. But the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers opposed the move, suggesting that it would jeopardise its relationship with church bodies, since bell ringing should be seen as part of [[Christian worship]], not exercise. The council's president, Chris Mew, said: "Where is the glamour of the sports field and where are the David Beckhams of the belfry?"<ref>{{cite news|last=Jamieson |first=Sophie |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/12161771/Ding-dong-for-bell-ringers-as-row-breaks-out-over-bid-to-be-classed-as-a-sport.html |title=Ding-dong for bell ringers as row breaks out over bid to be classed as a sport |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=19 February 2014 |access-date=19 February 2016}}</ref>

===Virtual===
The [[COVID-19 pandemic]] made it impossible for bell ringers to assemble in belfries. Searching for alternative methods, in March 2020 two ringers from the USA developed software called Ringing Room that mimics the operation of ropes and bells, and permits people to ring together online, in a type of [[networked music performance]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Ringing Room |url=https://ringingroom.com/about |website=ringingroom.com |access-date=10 August 2022}}</ref> Various other online platforms for virtual change ringing have also been created, but Ringing Room is the most popular, with over 10,000 people joining in the first year.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ringing Room – a User's Guide |url=https://cccbr.org.uk/2020/06/07/ringing-room-a-users-guide/ |website=CCCBR |access-date=10 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The ART Award for Excellence in the Development of Technology in Teaching |url=https://ringingteachers.org/recognition/awards/2021-winners/Ringing-Room |website=ringingteachers.org |publisher=Association of Ringing Teachers |access-date=10 August 2022}}</ref>

In one Shropshire church, bells can be tied up with their sounds simulated by sensors, so ringers can practise in silence using Bluetooth headsets.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tooley |first1=David |title=The chimes they are a'changing at south Shropshire church with new bells |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/south-shropshire/ludlow/2022/06/13/the-chimes-they-are-achanging-at-south-shropshire-church-with-new-bells/ |access-date=10 August 2022 |work=www.shropshirestar.com |language=en}}</ref>