Yup, I am definitely back in Oxford now. Clue number one is that the weather is extremely overcast. Clue number two is that, whenever I go out, I seem to run into somebody that I know. On my way to work this morning, I passed one of the OUSCR ringers riding her bicycle by my building. On my way to lunch with [livejournal.com profile] cheshcat, my ex-landlady called out to me. And on my way back from an evening lecture, I ran into the head of the OUSCR ringers.

The aforementioned lecture was on the Gough map[*] of Great Britain, believed to be the oldest surviving road map of this island. Here is a larger picture of the map, though not large enough to make out any real detail. It dates from either 1360 or 1280, and is printed on two sheets of vellum. The name of the map comes from the collector who donated it to the Bodleian Library, here in Oxford[**]. The lecture went over the history of the map for a bit, then launched into an analysis of its accuracy -- using statistical methods to determine how closely it resembled actual geography. [livejournal.com profile] cheshcat joined me, and we both had questions to ask of the speaker when the talk ended. I believe that [livejournal.com profile] gyades would have enjoyed the talk, too.

For [livejournal.com profile] gyades, or anyone else interested in old maps, I should point you towards the interactive digital version of the Gough map, located here. One can select different features of the map to look at -- like roads, or towns, or rivers -- and then click on individual places to get information about them. Very cool stuff!

After the lecture ended, I went to St. Giles for bell ringing. As is the norm, we started with a small handbell practice -- ringing all three parts of Plain Bob Minor (some going beyond the plain course to add relatively simple bobs) -- and then had a tower bell practice. I rang the #3 and, later, the #5 for Plain Hunt, as well as the covering tenor on Grandsire Triples and Stedman Doubles. I also rang the treble part on Plain Bob Minor. I am definitely a little rusty, but think I will recover soon.

Between the lecture and the ringing, I am feeling particularly English today. Drinking my first cup of Orwellian tea in weeks probably did not hurt, either.

[*] Pronounced "goth map".

[**] Though the map lives at the Bodleian, I believe that it is currently in my other stomping ground -- Chicago -- for some research purposes. Isn't it ironic?



From: [identity profile] acelightning.livejournal.com


Apropos of bell-ringing, I just recently read a fantasy short story which makes reference to some large church, either in England or possibly in Dublin, ringing one thousand changes on their bells for the Millennium. Did that actually happen?

From: [identity profile] anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com


This almost certainly did happen in a number of places.

Each change takes about two seconds, so one thousand changes is two thousand seconds... or just over half an hour. Not so long when you look at it that way, right?

At St. Giles, they attempt a quarter peal -- about 1200 changes -- once a month. At Mary Mag, during term time, it is done every Tuesday before the general practice. Quarter peals take about forty-five minutes.

A full peal is 5040 changes (or more), which is the full extent possible with seven bells (seven factorial). At about two seconds per change, a peal takes about three hours. Since the extent grows quickly as the number of bells increases, it would take about a full day to ring the ~40,000 changes of the full extent on eight bells. And nine days to ring the ~360,000 changes on nine bells. For the reason, even if the full extent is not rung, anything over about five thousand changes is considered a peal.

From: [identity profile] acelightning.livejournal.com


I suspect they were talking about a set of eight bells, which would make a thousand changes somewhat more impressive. And I'm sure that full peals, even on nine bells, have been rung from time to time, in one church or another, ad maiorem Dei gloriam.
.

Profile

anarchist_nomad: (Default)
anarchist_nomad

Most Popular Tags

Powered by Dreamwidth Studios

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags