Oxford Bob Triples (usually referred to as Single Oxford Bob Triples these days) is a nice, old worldy method. The first 'official' peal in the method seems to have been in 1821, after the publication, in 1816, of William Shipway's ringing textbook, which included a peal composition for Oxford Bob. But I've also heard of a peal of it having been rung in 1788. Was this false, or what? If you know, please drop me an email.

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Why is it that 'normal' singles (i.e: the singles used in Grandsire) are never used in peal compositions of Oxford Bob Triples? Unfamiliar 'In-Course' singles are always used instead. Some say that it is not possible to use Grandsire singles in a peal composition, but that's not quite true.

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As explained on the page about Tottenham Bob Triples, Grandsire singles are only of use for Triples methods that have bi-directional B-Blocks. There seem to be only three twin-hunt Triples methods where the B-Blocks (bob courses) can be rng either forwards or backwards: Grandsire, Union, and Tottenham Bob. As Grandsire singles automatically switch the direction of the flow, these three are the only methods where Grandsire singles can be easily used in a peal composition. For all of the other methods - where the B-Blocks can only be rung forwards - the less familiar in-course type singles have to be used, as these do not alter the direction of the flow.

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However, a bobbed lead of Oxford Bob is sufficiently similar to a bobbed lead of Grandsire that it is possible to simulate symmetry. And in achieving that, it is possible to produce carefully assembled blocks using normal Grandsire singles, as the simulated symmetry allows for the direction of flow to be altered. I believe that Robert Bennett was the first person to discover these blocks, and he wrote about his findings on the ringing theory mailing list in 2009. Whether anyone found these blocks before Bennett did, I don't know, but he successfully used them to produce a peal composition. However, the peal still has to use a few in-course singles, in addition to the bobs and Grandsire singles. But the upshot is that we now know that peal compositions are possible using normal Grandsire singles.

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In the email, Bennett says that he couldn't see how to avoid including the in-course singles. Is it possible to get a peal composition just with bobs, Grandsire singles, and plain leads?

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In 2013 I came up with the blocks myself to see how they worked and how user friendly they were for composition. I came up with the term 'Special Block,' and here is the Special Block that starts from Rounds:

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  234567

s 762534

s 437562

- 624537

- 376524

- 243576

s 672543

s 346572

- 723546

- 467523

- 234567

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What are the features and functions of these Special Blocks?

• They are, effectively, two B-Blocks fused together

• (This is a necessary feature, so that you can get back to where you started from)

• One Special Block on its own is not self-contained. Like a chain reaction, there have to be a minimum of 18 Special Blocks in total, all related to each other by mathematical group theory. It is lucky that they close into a finite group at all. A total of 18 Special Blocks makes for 2520 changes - half an entire peal! The remainder of the peal can be made up of normal B-Blocks - these are mutually true to the 18 Special Blocks, which are holistically self-contained.

• Why does the introduction of one Special Block require a further 17? Because, the simulated symmetry forces certain other Special Blocks to be used to retain truth. 

• For example, if you look at this particular Special Block, the lead end after the first single is 762534. Then, as the treble goes up, bell 5 makes a place, while 3,4 dodge at the back. But this place notation is not reflected when the treble comes back down again, so the lead is not symmetrical. To simulate symmetry, we must also include the special blocks starting with 253467 and 245367, so that the trios of bells 3,4,5 do every combination together at the back as the treble goes up. This means that the three leads ends 762534, 762453, 762345, all holistically create the simulation of three symmetrical leads.

• But there are other trios of bells involved, which is why the total number of Special Blocks required is so large - as I said, it is lucky that they close into a group at all.

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Here is the lead in between the two singles, to demonstrate the asymmetry:

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s 1762534

  7165243

  7612534 

  6721543 Place notation '5' here, affecting bells 3,4,5

  6275134

  2657314

  2563741

  5236471 Half lead

  5324617

  3542167

  3451276

  4315726 Place notation '5' is NOT reflected here, so the lead is asymmetrical

  4137562

  1435726

s 1437562

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The 18 Special Blocks that I worked out (as based on the first one starting from Rounds) all begin with the following lead ends:

 

234567, 253467, 245367,

634572, 653472, 645372,

734526, 753426, 745326,

526743, 426735, 326754,

572643, 472635, 372654,

467235, 567243, 367254

 

It is worth bearing in mind that, like normal B-Blocks, these are not yet joined together despite their shared relationship.

 

The 18 Special Blocks added to the 36 remaining B-Blocks makes for a total of 54 blocks in our hypothetical peal. But this is a problem. 54 is an even number, meaning that we still need some kind of other call to include all 54 blocks - bobs alone can only gather an odd number.

 

I rather doubtfully tried to see if another set of 18 Special Blocks could be used on top of the original set, to see if this might change an even number of blocks into an odd number. This resulted in many Special Blocks becoming fused together in interesting ways, and leaving only 16 normal B-Blocks, but the total number of blocks was still an even number (36.) 

 

Unfortunately, although Grandsire singles are possible in a peal of Oxford Bob Triples, at least two in-course singles are still required. The longest round block that you can get with only bobs, Grandsire singles, and plain leads is 4970 changes (i.e: one B-Block missing.)

 

                                  Easiest Peal to Call

In January 2010 I came up with this 24-part peal of Oxford Bob, based on the 24 in-course part ends xxxx67 and xxxx76. I have not seen another peal of Oxford Bob on this plan. The peal should be very easy to call, each part being effectively a block of three bobs. However, this may not be so easy to call for those who have to ring the observation bell, as this changes halfway through the peal! This variation has fewer singles, but is consequently less structured. This demonstrates that, generally, when singles are removed from a composition, the composition then becomes less structured and less easy to call.

 

                                 Easiest Peal to Ring

In July 2012 I came up with this five-part peal of Oxford Bob, which should be the easiest for a band to ring, as it gets rid of the two in-course singles at the earliest possible opportunity (after only 84 changes.) As the person who added the composition to the website failed to include the place notation for the singles (despite my follow up email), I can tell you that it is: 5.12367, if you hadn't worked it out.

There are some other five-parts by J. J. Parker, so I'm not sure if this is not a variation of one of them.

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For this easy-to-ring composition to work, it has to be a five-part. This is because the five leads forming the extra course at the start between the singles, are taken from each of the five parts (they are related to one another as the same equivalent lead from each part.) I knew that this particular course would produce the familiar Middleton's part ends, but also that this course could be included at the earliest possible opportunity with the 12367 singles. A perfect recipe, then, to producing the easiest possible peal composition for a band to ring.

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If you look at the composition, the section near the end of each part where the 7th is only in the hunt for one lead is the partner course for the singled-in course. Elsewhere I described partner P-Blocks for Grandsire Triples, and the ones in Oxford Bob are exactly the same. The partner here is split across the five-parts, while the other course is singled-in as a whole course in the first part. Had they both have been split as single leads across the five parts, they would have cancelled each other out by turning in opposite directions and the first part end would then be Rounds (this partner course is deliberately split across the five leads to produce the part ends.)

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As this composition uses the 72 P-Blocks, it can be made to work for many other twin-hunt Triples methods that have 5ths place lead ends, such as Double Oxford. James White has arranged and conducted such peals for other methods. It is a shame that James is the only person, apart from myself, to have called this composition and its variations for other methods, as I hoped it would be useful for bands wanting to get the unfamiliar singles out of the way as soon as possible.

   

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