20-part 5040s of Stedman Triples have been known about since the 19th century. These peals are formed of four identical 5-part quarter peals; the 5-parters multiplied by four makes a mathematical group of 20 part-ends in total, with the five part-ends of each quarter peal being a subgroup of the main group.

 

The part ends almost always leave two observation bells in their home positions at all part ends, with the other five bells cycling round. More recently it has been discovered that this plan also works for Plain Triples methods - though with only one observation bell rather than two - and there are peal compositions for Grandsire, Plain Bob, and Union.

 

In Stedman Triples, most 20-part peals have the front five bells ringing cyclic rotations of Rounds, Queens, Reverse Rounds, and Tittums:

 

231456      351246

342516      523416

453126      245136

514236      412356

125346      134526

 

541326      421536

435216      254316

324156      532146

213546      315426

152436      143256

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(Note that we have 231456 as the Rounds course end instead of 123456, due to the traditional Stedman start not being at the six-end. Consequently, all of the Rounds, Queens, Tittums, and Reverse Rounds part ends are shifted by a 231456 transposition.)

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                                         The old bobs-only blocks

The gifted Birmingham composer John J B Lates composed what is probably the first 20-part peal of Stedman Triples. This would have between 1832 and 1842 (after Hudson's ground breaking 10-part peal was composed, but before the later 20-parts appeared.) Here is Lates' peal, which I have not computer proved:

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5040 Stedman Triples (prove before calling)

by John J. B. Lates

7.8.9.10 (14)        4517263

9.10.11.12 (14)    5374261

9.10.11.12 (14)    3145267

20 times.

At the start of each quarter peal, ring a 147 single in the third change.

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This was the period in which composers were competing to devise a 5040 that used bobs and only two common singles; Lates' 20-part block was an attempt in that direction.

 

In 1842, Lates' ingenious rival Thomas Thurstans (also a Birmingham ringer) produced the following twin-bob 20-part block:

 

1260 Stedman Triples

by Thomas Thurstans

S H L Q 231456

x   x   246351

x x   x 432561

  x     342516

Five times for 1260.

Mutually true to the 20-part ends for a true 5040.

 

Note that this is in twin-bob notation, as the composition is stricty on the Hudson plan. This is because Hudson's 60 course ends include this 20-part group within them, though it entails ringing some of the courses backwards. Consequently, the twin-bob 20-parts are some of the only twin-bob peals where the out-of-course parts are called the same as the in-course parts.

 

In 1842, Thurstans used unusual singles to join up the four quarter peals. Finally, in 1846, he managed to joi up the blocks with only two common singles, and the resulting peal has come to be endearingly known as Thurstans' Masterpiece in recent years.

 

Even today the Thurstans' block is still one of the most aesthetically pleasing ways of ringing a 5040 of Stedman. The calls are spread out nicely, being mostly in twos, and the one block of four bobs in each part keeps the 6th dodging at the back. The first bobs at S keep a cyclic pair of bells dodging in 6-7, as do the bobs at L a few sixes later. There are countless signposts like this throughout the part, many of which you notice during the actual ringing and are then aware of for the subsequent parts. The first part end is effectively 23451, meaning that the part ends are distributed in a logical order, again making the conducting easier.

 

A well-known variation of this peal is Heywood's Transposition, which I would think is one of the easiest 5040s of Stedman Triples for a band to ring.

 

Not all of the parts are called the same in Thurstans' Masterpiece and Heywood's Transposition, due to the use of 'extras' and 'omits' (which are explained on the page about 60-course plans.) However, if six singles are used rather than two, it is possible to ring all 20-parts technically the same, though the singles still have to break up some of the parts. Surely the best such six-single version is Dexter's no. 2 Variation. It looks extremely neat on paper, and must be one of the easiest 5040s in the method to call. The first three singles are got out of the way very early on, and the three later singles are all made by the 7th. The 'A' blocks are all indicated in advance by the long string of 468s in the preceding part.

 

Henry W. Haley was a prominent London ringer and composer, born in 1819. He devised another twin-bob 20-part block, presumably not a great many years after Thurstans' block:

 

1260 Stedman Triples

by Henry W. Haley

S H L Q  

x       536421

x x   x 345261

  x x   125346

Five times for 1260, mutually true to a 20-part peal.

 

Haley used this block to compose his own peal.

 

The final old 20-part block is by Thomas Brook, though I have no idea of when he was active or when his peal was produced.

 

1260 Stedman Triples

by Thomas Brook

S H L

x x   356412

x x   512463

  x x 342516

Five times for 1260, mutually true to a 20-part peal.

 

Brook's peal is here. The block isn't as good as Thurstans', with the bobs all coming in fours, though it is interesting that only three of the calling positions are used.

More interestingly still, this turns out to be a variation of Lates' block above! Lates uses the 6th as observation bell in his own block, making it harder to spot at first glance that both blocks are the same. This means that Lates could have used his block to produce the first peal with bobs and only two common singles before Thurstans did, rather than using the funny singles. 

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There is one more bobs-only block that is mutually true to the 20 part ends. Call S,H,L S,H H. This is close to Brook's block, and contains a set of six bobs in a row.

 

These four are the only twin-bob bobs-only 20-part blocks. However, peals are also possible using mixtures of these blocks, as can be seen in the first section of this document. It is particularly neat that arrangements are possible using only two singles.

 

                                        New twin-bob blocks with singles

In 2019 I was working on a project to see how many P-Blocks could be singled-in to a twin-bob peal, which you can read about here. I composed a 10-part (nos. 7a and 7b) with 20 P-Blocks, which appears to be the maximum. I then wondered whether a 20-part peal would be possible, with one P-Block per part, but this opened up a broader and more interesting idea: twin bob 20-part peals that use singles internally as part of the calling, in contrast to the old bobs-only blocks by Thurstans, Brook, and Haley where singles are only ever used to join up the parts. There are already lots of variations of Thurstans, etc, that add lots of singles within the main block. This variation of Brook's peal, by David Sheppard, is an example. But these are still the old bobs-only blocks with singles added externally to join up the blocks in interesting ways. So the bobs-only blocks can still exist without the singles. In contrast, my idea was to come up with a 20-part block that cannot exist without the singles - that is the difference.

 

On the 1st May 2019 it occurred to me that it wouldn't be too difficult to devise such a block. Just make sure that the 6th occupies the three different relative positions at the three course ends - as in the old blocks - that there are six pairs of bobs in the block which truthfully match up with each other and eliminate the falseness. That wasn't too difficult, as many of the bobs effect the little bells. It was also important to ensure that the correct number of sixes with the 6th in 6-7 was included (this is why you get the block of 4 bobs with the 6th at the back in the blocks by Thurstans, Haley and Brook.)

 

With a pen and paper it didn't take long to produce a 20-part block that uses singles internally, and here it is:

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1260 Stedman Triples

by RBP

2 S L 9 11 Q 14

s                346125

  x   s    x     345261

         s x  s (342516)

  x x      x     342516

5 times for 1260, and 20 times makes a true 5040.

Composed 1/5/19

 

I like the way that the round block S,L,Q is rung between a pair of singles -- an interesting and unusual feature. It also means that the block ends with that very pretty short touch that is often rung. Also note the way that bells 3,4 are fixed in firsts and seconds place at all course ends. This block should be straight foward to call. As in the Thurstans block, you get lots of signposts with the cylic pairs dodging in the calls (with a particular focus on bells 1,2 in the first part, 2,3 in the second part, etc.) The part ends come in the same order as in Thurstans. Also note that there are no bobs at H.

 

I used this block to produce a peal composition. It is akin to Dexter's no. 2, and scores of other variations, using six extra singles to join up the four quarter peals:

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5040 Stedman Triples

RBP (no. 8a)

2 S L 9 11 Q 14

s                346125 |

  x   s    x     345261 |

         s x  s (342516)|A

  x x      x     342516 |

      3A         125346

s                236514 |

  x   s    x     234165 |B

s                315426 |

      4A         532146

       B         152436

      4A         213546

       B         523416

      5A      s (154263)

          s x s (152436)

  x x       x s (314562)

          s x s (315426)

  x x       x s (234165)

          s x s (231456)

  x x       x    231456

Composed 1st May 2019.

 

This is designed so that all of the pretty S,L,Q courses containing 468s are rung at the end, the final such block being the one that ends with Rounds.

 

I was keen to use the block to produce a peal in four quarters joined by extras and omits, analogous to Thurstans' Masterpiece. Unfortunately this isn't really possible as the complementary extras and omits have to be included in the same half, unlike Thurstans' peal where they are divided across both halves. Instead I arranged the following peal, which is less attractive:

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5040 Stedman Triples (Using the same A and B sections as no. 8a)

RBP (no. 8b)

2  S  L  9  11  Q  14

s                     346125

   x    [s      x     345261

                x     321465

             s] x  s (324156)

   x  x         x     324156

         A            213546

         B            523416

        5A         s (154263)

             s  x  s (152436)

   x  x         x     152436

        2A            435216

Repeat, omitting the bracketted calls from the second half.

Composed 1st May 2019.

 

Back to the question of singled-in P-Blocks, my first 20-part block can be tweaked slightly to accommodate this feature:

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1260 Stedman Triples

RBP

2 S H L 9 11 Q 14

s                  346125

  x     s          321465

           s x  s (324156)

  x x x      x     453126

5 times for 1260, and 20 times makes a true 5040.

Composed 1st May 2019.

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Not only does this include a singled-in P-Block in each part, but it also contains 9 calls in a row, so effectively has P-Blocks and quasi B-Blocks in the same composition!

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No. 9a was composed very soon afterwards:

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5040 Stedman Triples

RBP (no. 9a)

2 S H L 9 11 Q 14

s                  346125 |

  x     s          321465 |

           s x  s (324156)|A

  x x x      x     453126 |

        4A      s (524361)

           s x  s (523416)

  x x x      x  s (234165)

           s x  s (231456)

  x x x      x  s (314562)

           s x  s (315426)

  x x x      x     523416

        4A         134526 |

s                  356412 |

  x     s          314562 |B

s                  152436 |

        2B         231456

Composed 1st May 2019.

Contains 17 unbroken P-Blocks.

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As can be seen from the footnote, the peal only has 17 unbroken P-Blocks out of the 20 - three of them have to get broken up to join the quarter peals.

 

However, it is possible to ring all 20 P-Blocks in full if 50% of the parts are rung backwards (the B sections being the reverse parts), though the result is rather removed from a 20-part:

 

5040 Stedman Triples (20 unbroken P-Blocks)

RBP (no. 9b)

2   S H L 9 11 Q 14

2s                   415632

    x x x s    x     162543 |

s                    653214 |

                  s (162543)|B

        x    s x     521643 |

         4B       s (346125)

    x     s          321465

             s x     216435

s                    145623

         5B       s (216435)

    x     s          234165

             s x  s (231456)

    x x x      x     152436

s                    546213 |

    x     s          512463 |

             s x  s (514236)|A

    x x x      x     435216 |

         3A          324156

    x x x      x     453126

         4A          231456

Composed 2nd May 2019.

Contains 20 P-Blocks

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This only has 82 singles, which is fewer than the number of singles in my other 20 P-Block peals (nos. 7a and 7b, 98 singles).

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Next I wanted to compose a twin-bob 20-part block that contains all of the 678s at backstroke. All of the published blocks have 50% of the 678s at backstroke.

I succeeded with the following block, which is actually quite close to Thurstans' block in some ways:

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S,H,L                          146532

S,H,s9,s14,H,s11,s11  435216

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Aesthetically, this block is a delight. All of the 678s are at backstroke, and all occur after a fairly long string of plain sixes, meaning that all 8 "tittums course ends" have the desired build up, as in Cinques. What's more, the two sets of 678s in each part occur very close together, on either side of the singles at 11. And the same bell is in 5ths place for both sixes (meaning that you get two sixes of 5678s very close together.)

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The drawback of this block is that the bells are shunted into a 2-part transposition rather than a 5-part. Extras and omits aren't able to solve the problem. The solution is to double-up an out-of-course and an in-course block, to make a 10-part block. There are several ways to do this, the A sections in my peal nos. 10a and 10b being two of the possibilities. 10a includes consecutive course ends of 678s. 10b spreads them out more.

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5040 Stedman Triples

by RBP (no. 10a)

2 S H L 9 11 14

  x x x s        315426

  x x x s        152436

  x x x s        523416 | 

  x x x          346125 |

  x x   s     s (641235)|A

    x     3s     256143 |

  x x   s     s (651423)|

    x     2s     541326 |

        3A       213546

  x x x s        134526

  x x x          456231

  x x   s     s (652341)

    x     3s     316254

  x x   s     s (612534)

    x     3s     546213

  x x   s     s (642153)

    x     3s     136245

  x x   s     s (632415)

    x     2s     342516

        4A       231456

Composed 3rd May 2019.

All of the 678s at backstroke.

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5040 Stedman Triples

by RBP (no. 10b)

2 S H L 9 11 14

  x x x       s (315426)|

  x x x          546213 |

  x x   s     s (561432)|

    x     2s     412356 |A

s                136245 |

  x x   s     s (164352)|

    x     2s     342516 |

        3A       125346

  x x x       s (254316)

  x x x          436152

  x x   s     s (465321)

    x     2s     351246

  x x x          126453

  x x   s     s (165234)

    x     2s     254316

s                536421

  x x   s     s (562314)

    x     2s     324156

        4A       435216

  x x x          526134

  x x   s     s (563241)

    x     2s     231456

Composed 9th May 2019.

All the 678s at backstroke.

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These aren't the first twin-bob 5040s to have all of the 678s at backstroke, as a cursory glance at this 10-part by A. J. Pitman seems to show. A very similar peal was also composed by Joseph (J) Parker - these are of particular interest, as they seem to be the only twin-bob peals - along with the 20-parts - where the in-course and out-of-course parts are called the same.

 

                                                 Odd-bob peals

There are a number of interesting and differing 20-part peals not on the twin-bob plan. John Carter's peal of 1898 was the first odd-bob peal ever composed, and the plan is discussed at some length on the page about 60-course plans. The 1898 peal - "Carter's Odd-bob" - is made up of four quarter-peals, each quarter being made up of five 3-course blocks. The peal is, therefore, effectively a 20-part, though it relies heavily on extras and omits. One of the quarters is rung backwards between the two singles. Carter subsequently used the plan to compose other 20-part peals.

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Though not a 20-part, there is an intriguing peal by Louis Head (a composer about whom I know absolutely nothing, except that he also published a one-part peal of Grandsire Triples) that is very close to the twin-bob plan. The composition is a 10-part with all the 678s at backstroke.

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Another peal with all the 678s at backstroke is this incredibly neat 20-part by Philip Saddleton. I believe that the peal was designed for this feature, by the simple technique of having a bob at the end of the part so that both of the xxxxx678 sixes in the part occur at the same stroke (this I seem to recall reading in a RW article, where the peal was first published.) Wonderfully, 20 identical parts form a true peal, and only six singles are required to link up the four quarter peals (like Dexter's no. 2). There aren't that many instances of long call strings.

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Two 20-part peals by Richard Grimmett are of great interest. His 20 part No 1 has a neat alternating of bobs and singles in the B section (which is the main part.) Yet again, the peal is made up of four quarter-peals, each quarter-peal being made up of five 3-course blocks. Richard uses extras to join up the quarters to make two half peals (the A section being the block containing the extras.) But the way he does this is fascinating for several reasons. Firstly, it is by no means guaranteed that extras and omits can be used in all Stedman Triples peal plans - they are the basis of twin-bob peals but aren't always possible in all odd-bob plans, so it is a bonus whenever extras and omits can be used in an odd-bob peal, such as this one. Secondly, the extras in Richard's peal are two consecutive singles, rather than the more common pair of consecutive bobs - a novel twist. Thirdly, both of the half-peals use the same device, rather than complementary omits having to be used in the other half-peal. This is astonishingly clever and neat. Even a composition as neat as Thurstans' Masterpiece has to use both extras and omits, rather than just the one type. The two 2520s in Richard's peal are then joined together directly by singles.

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20 part No 2 contains no more than 3 consecutive calls, and the courses used look rather similar to the "Triangular Single Course" peals described on the page about 60-course plans - I wonder if there is a relation. Again, the B section is the main part, with the A section being the part that joins up the parity-related 1260s. However, in this peal the A section differs by more than just a pair of singles. It is formed by using an irregular q-set of two singles to ring a short piece of the B section backwards, between the two singles, and thereby shunting the part end into the parallel 1260 (I haven't written this out to check, but by looking carefully at the notation it seems almost certain that this is what's happening.) As with his 20 part No 1, the same device is used in both half-peals. The two half-peals are then joined by omitting two of the singles, rather than adding two singles (again, I haven't written this out, but am fairly certain that this is correct.) The two linkage points are fairly close together, and the first linkage course is the very first course of the peal - another neat feature. All in all, these two peals are of great distinction.

 

Don Morrison offers something very different, with a 20-part peal contain xxxxx768 part ends as well as the xxxxx678 part ends. All part ends are in-course. A cursory glance seems to suggest that the 768 parts are reverse variations of the 678 parts, with the a - e courses being the z - v courses rung upside down, making for an authentic 20-part structure. The courses used look very pleasing, with no long strings of calls, lots of isolated calls with comfortable concentration of consecutive plains, and no consecutive singles. Perhaps this is one of the overlooked Stedman Triples masterpieces of modern times.

 

Alan Burbidge recently broke new ground with his "minimum-call" peal, which has only 238 calls. This is the fewest number of calls in a peal of Stedman Triples since the twin-bob plan, 242 calls being the minimum for those peals. Alan's peal is described as a 10-part, but is based on a 20-part structure. Unlike the 20-parts we have considered so far, this peal uses bells 1,2 as the observation bells. This pair never dodge together in 6-7 in a quick six, hence why a peal with bells 6,7 observation would not be possible with a normal start. Apparently the clear way in which 1,2 interact throughout the peal makes it very straightforward to conduct. John Warboys has used the same basic plan to produce his own composition, which can be found on his website. The peals by Alan and John contain no more than two consecutive calls.   

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