# UK Dopers-What The name For Elaborate Bell Ringing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 22, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-what-the-name-for-elaborate-bell-ringing/203131 "2003-09-22T17:25:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-what-the-name-for-elaborate-bell-ringing/203131/21 "2003-09-23T13:14:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*I’ve never seen a thread moved this-a-way before! > Anecdote: when I rang bells in a little village, a family moved to a house next to the church. They knew of the existence of the belltower, the bells of which have been ringing there regularly for at least the past 600 years. They moved in anways. No sooner had they moved in than they applied at the local council to get the bells stopped. They failed. And someone rested a full bag of manure against their front door with one side of it slashed open, rang the doorbell and ran away. > > Can someone come up with a witty moral to this story? \*\* Peelers are Useless…? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-what-the-name-for-elaborate-bell-ringing/203131/22 "2003-09-23T13:55:55Z")
By the way, for anyone interested, I’ve found some [change-ringing diagrams](http://www.ringbell.co.uk/methods/index.htm). This is the most complex I ever got up to: [Grandsire Doubles](http://www.ringbell.co.uk/methods/gs5.htm), but it can get [ridiculously complex](http://www.ringbell.co.uk/methods/cb8.htm). The mad thing is that people actually commit this stuff to memory. Further info: the top note bell is known as the “treble”, and is numbered 1 on the diagrams, and the bottom note (might be 6 or 8 or whatever depending on the number of bells) is the “tenor”. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-what-the-name-for-elaborate-bell-ringing/203131/23 "2003-09-23T14:04:30Z")
Don’t most US bell-towers have a sniper at the top of them? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-what-the-name-for-elaborate-bell-ringing/203131/24 "2003-09-23T14:07:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*Can someone come up with a witty moral to this story? \*\* Do not ask for whom the bell tolls, ask “who put all this shit on my doorstep?” Nah! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-what-the-name-for-elaborate-bell-ringing/203131/25 "2003-09-23T14:25:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*Can someone come up with a witty moral to this story? \*\* If you give bell ringers shit, they’ll give it right back? If you don’t like bells ringing, don’t answer your bell? ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-what-the-name-for-elaborate-bell-ringing/203131/26 "2003-09-23T15:09:02Z")
\>\> What The name For Elaborate Bell Ringing? \> Campanology. Cacophony actually. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-what-the-name-for-elaborate-bell-ringing/203131/27 "2003-09-23T15:51:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by raygirvan \* > \*\*\>\> What The name For Elaborate Bell Ringing? > \> Campanology. > > Cacophony actually. \*\* Be very careful opening your front door after that remark ! ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-what-the-name-for-elaborate-bell-ringing/203131/28 "2003-09-23T16:08:11Z")
i too am a lapsed campanologist … (JJIMM, grandsire was about my limit too !) You only really need to memorise the blue line which is usually symetrical. In most methods (that i knew), all the bells do the same pattern but start at a different place. Then you only need to learn a few extras (eg “bobs”) during which you swap places on the blue line with one of the other bells. Once you know the few rules you can keep going for hours. Most i ever did was a quarter peal which takes about 45 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-what-the-name-for-elaborate-bell-ringing/203131/29 "2003-09-23T16:12:24Z")
Right. Next time I read _The Nine Tailors_, I’m going to pester **Siege** and **jjimm** for translations of all that stuff about “dodging” or “laying her blows behind” or whatever it was. (I’ve probably got that completely wrong, but never mind.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-what-the-name-for-elaborate-bell-ringing/203131.md?page=1)