So what is a quarter peel? St Mary’s has six bells (see the refurbishment of our bell tower in 2017 under ‘In our time‘). We ring them from the lightest bell (Highest Note – Treble – bell 1) to the heaviest bell (Deepest Note – Tenor – bell 6). We start off ringing them in order 1 2 3 4 5 6, these 6 rings are counted as 1 change. We can then change the order of the bells, but each bell can only move one place. Depending on how many bells are moving (known as working bells) will determine the possible number of changes you can have before you start repeating the sequences. Before a sixth bell was added, St Mary’s had five bells, which would have meant a total of 120 unique changes. Just adding one bell takes this to 720 possible changes. If there are eight bells (as in St Stephen’s Clanfield) the total possible changes are 5,040! This is the number that makes up a full peel, which takes three hours to ring. For us to ring a full peel on six bells means ringing the 720 possible changes 7 times. A quarter peel is a quarter of 5,040 – in other words, 1,260 changes. This will take approximately 45 minutes.
It’s a wonderful sound so do listen out on Tuesday 8th February starting at 2pm and on Sunday 27th February starting at 5pm before the evensong service.
… And if you’d like to have a go and join our merry band of ringers then do use the contact form!