The Line
Single Court is a 6th place method. This means there is plain hunting at the lead the lead end and the symmetry point is around the join between 4th and 6th place bells.
As a result, like Grandsire, the method starts with dodge… however, unlike Grandsire, it is symmetrical, so there is a corresponding dodge just before the lead end too.
Because of the dodges in 5-6… other bells are blocked from hunting and have to turn around in 4ths.
The are no simple extensions of Single Court… however, it is possible to add a second hunt bell as per Grandsire.
Theoretically, you could then add a 3rd, 4th, 5th etc… but it would hardly make for rewarding ringing!
Structure
The place bell order is 6 5 3 2 4… (2 4 6 5 3), so the same as Plain Bob.
Place bells remain an important element of learning the line… without knowing them individually, as well as in order, you will not know the starts and will come horribly unstuck at a bob, single or splice.
The key to ringing Single Court is the treble….
Pass it in 1-2 or 3-4 you turn around in 4ths.
Pass it in 2-3 or 5-6 and you dodge up or down in 5-6.
Pass it is 4-5 and you dodge up and down in 5-6.
Place Bells
Single Court is a 6th place method. This means there is plain hunting at the lead the lead end and the symmetry point is around the join between 4th and 6th place bells.
As a result, like Grandsire, the method starts with dodge… however, unlike Grandsire, it is symmetrical, so there is a corresponding dodge just before the lead end too.
Because of the dodges in 5-6… other bells are blocked from hunting and have to turn around in 4ths.
The are no simple extensions of Single Court… however, it is possible to add a second hunt bell as per Grandsire.
Theoretically, you could then add a 3rd, 4th, 5th etc… but it would hardly make for rewarding ringing!
Bobs and Singles
Bobs are 14 (4th place), so the same as Plain Bob.
- The front 2 bells are unaffected… so run in and out as normal…
If you pass the treble in 2-3, make 4ths (make the Bob) and become 4th place bells.
If you are dodging or about to dodge (at the back), add another dodge for the bob and remember the lead start with a further dodge… 3 in total!
There are 2 possibilities for a single…. 1234 and 1456. We will look only at a 1456 single. The 1234 single is for 2nds place methods and not actually a single in the context of Single Court as it switches 4 bells not 2!
If you are already dodging at the back, make fifths (5th place bell), dodge again and then lie for the second time.
If you pass the treble in 4-5 you are unaffected i.e. dodge-lie-dodge as normal!
Other bells as per a Bob.
Because of the dodges in 5-6… other bells are blocked from hunting and have to turn around in 4ths.
The are no simple extensions of Single Court… however, it is possible to add a second hunt bell as per Grandsire.
Theoretically, you could then add a 3rd, 4th, 5th etc… but it would hardly make for rewarding ringing!
Practice Touches
Two singles a course apart is probably the simplest calling and works with most methods. It always doubles the length of any touch.
For simple practice a bob or single course will provide a good chance to practice the calls.
- The bob course is 5 leads and everyone tries everything.
- The single course has 4 and 6 alternating between unaffected and making the bob, while the other 3 bells ring the single and two unaffected leads twice.
- Alternate leads only provides 4 leads, so is very simple and short.
False but Fun!
The touches below are false, they use a mixture of Bobs and Singles to switch the pairs, so that they come around at handstroke…
…but provide a different calling from the usual practice night offerings!
Longer Touches
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The Left touch is the 6th place equivalent to WHW x 3… Its is actually In-Out-In x 3. Addition of a single will swap a pair of bells and cause the calling to be doubled…. thus giving a simple 720.
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The right touch is a simple repeating pattern of PBB x 5. Giving 180 changes. Addition of a single instead of a plain lead anywhere will allow it to double.
With some thought, it should also be possible to extend to 720.
We have already mentioned that Single Court only extends by adding a second hunt bell (as in Grandsire). If you are keen to extend to higher numbers, we have therefore included a Blue Line link to this method. We have also included a link to the CCCBR Library, where you can see all the related methods at the bottom of the page. Single Norwich Court Major is one we note has clear similarities with Single Court Minor.