I looked recently at the underlying structure of Cambridge Surprise on any number of bells (6 or more), and now I want to do the same with Yorkshire Surprise on any number (8 or more, since it is false on 6 bells).
The basic idea of Yorkshire is similar to Cambridge: the treble always treble-bob hunts in each dodging position (1–2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–8, etc), and wherever possible the other bells treble-bob hunt, but out of phase with the treble.
(See the article on Cambridge structure for a reminder of what it means to treble-bob hunt either in phase or out of phase with the treble.)
In Yorkshire there is an exception to this out-of-phase treble bobbing: starting when the treble is dodging at the back, one of the bells treble-bobs in phase with the treble and one dodging position below it, making 2nd place over the treble at the lead-end, and continuing in phase until the treble reaches the back again.
Everything else in Yorkshire is a consequence of this change from Cambridge.
The bell that starts doing this in-phase treble bobbing is the 5th-place bell, from the half-lead when it has passed the treble at the back, and continuing as the 2nd-place bell until the half-lead as it approaches the back. For brevity, I call this piece of work the in-phase bell, because it is treble-bob hunting in phase with the treble. (This isn’t a shorthand I have come across elsewhere, but it is a convenient term.)
Because the treble and the in-phase bell are in adjacent dodging positions, the other bells meet the in-phase bell immediately before or immediately after meeting the treble, They must either pass it or dodge with it, just as they do with the treble.
Remember that in Cambridge places a bell dodges with the treble in the middle of the work, making places either side of that dodge in order first to get in phase with the treble, and then to get back out of phase. But in Yorkshire there is immediately another in-phase bell to deal with: so if we have dodged with the treble we must curtail Cambridge places to pass the in-phase bell. Or alternatively, if it’s the treble that is passed, then we must dodge with the in-phase bell and make places to change phase. This changes Cambridge places into Yorkshire places and also adds them in positions where in Cambridge you just plain hunt past the treble.
Let’s see what that means in practice.
First, what does it mean for the 5th and 2nd place bells? The work of the 5th-place bell is the same as in Cambridge until it passes the treble as it comes away from the back, but it then dodges in the highest internal dodging position — (n‑3)-(n‑2), e.g. 5–6 in Major. This is the half-lead, when the treble is lying at the back; it adds another two dodges and then treble-bobs down to the front, preceding the treble; at the lead end it makes 2nd place over the treble, becoming the 2nd-place bell, and treble-bobs down to the lead and then out to the highest internal position. A dodge there brings it to the half-lead, and it adds two more dodges before passing the treble and double-dodging up at the back, which puts it back out of phase with the treble.
In Major that looks like this, starting from the half-lead:
—-5–1
—–5-1
—-5-1-
—–5-1
—-5-1-
—5-1– treble is now off the back, so treble bob down in phase with the treble
–5-1—
—5-1–
–5-1—
-5-1—-
5-1—–
-5-1—-
5-1—–
51—— lead; then dodge up with the treble
15——
51——
15——
12—— lead end: make 2nds place and become the 2
21—— continue treble-bobbing in phase by dodging down with the treble
12——
21——
2-1—–
-2-1—-
2-1—–
-2-1—-
–2-1—
—2-1–
–2-1—
—2-1–
—-2-1-
—–2-1
—-2-1-
—–2-1
—-2–1 half-lead end: add an extra two dodges and pass the treble
At the half-lead, when the treble is at the back, the bell about to start this work (the 5th-place bell) and the bell that has just finished it (the 2nd-place bell) triple dodge with each other in the penultimate dodging position (5–6 in Major, 7–8 in Royal, 9–10 in Maximus, and so on) whilst the treble is dodging up and down above them in the topmost dodging position. The 2pb is waiting for the treble to come off the back so that it can go out; and the 5pb is waiting for the treble so that it can treble-bob hunt down below it.
As already noted, everything else in Yorkshire is a consequence of this change.
Next, let’s consider one small but important point. The bell treble-bobbing in phase with the treble is below the treble. The other bells must change their behaviour (compared with Cambridge) whenever they meet this bell, and by definition that can only happen below the treble, since that’s where this in-phase treble bobbing happens. Whenever a bell is above the treble it behaves in exactly the same fashion as it would in Cambridge. That’s why Yorkshire is ‘Cambridge above the treble’.
And third, let’s look at what happens when one of the other bells meets the in-phase bell.
We’ve already noted, that when a bell that is out of phase meets an in-phase bell, it must do the same as it has to do when it meets the treble: either pass it or else put itself in phase to dodge with it.
And this will happen immediately adjacent to meeting the treble (before or after meeting the treble, depending on whether the bell is hunting up or down).
This means that if we are doing, say, places down, then after dodging with the treble we cannot just make places and dodge again, as we would in Cambridge, but instead we must hunt past the in-phase bell. And conversely, if we hunted past the treble, then we will immediately encounter the in-phase bell and must dodge with it, and then make places to get back out of phase.
Similarly, if we are going in the other direction we will hunt up past the in-phase bell and immediately dodge with the treble, and then make places to get back in phase and dodge again; or if we dodge up with a bell and find the in-phase bell above us then places must be made before dodging with the in-phase bell and then plain-hunting past the treble to get back out of phase.
This is why Yorkshire places are not symmetric about the treble (as Cambridge places are) but are preceded or followed by a missed dodge. And it’s why Yorkshire places don’t always involve a dodge with the treble, because they are also made with the in-phase bells.
We look below at the details of this for the 4th and 8th place bells of Yorkshire Surprise Major, as they meet the in-phase bells and the treble. The 7th and 6th place bells are respectively the mirrors of these.
There are some other consequences of this. When learning Yorkshire after Cambridge, it is common to consider the Cambridge frontwork (either side of making 2nds place over the treble at the lead end) as divided in two and assigned to the 8th and the 6th place bells. But it is better, in Yorkshire, to consider it as Yorkshire places up or down in 1–2 rather than as half the Cambridge frontwork.
We can then see that Yorkshire places are made alternately up and down. This begins with the work of the 6th place bell, where all the up places include a dodge with the treble, but all the down places involve a dodge with the in-phase bell. In Major the work is: the lowest set of places down, in 1–2 with the in-phase bell, then 5–6 places up with the treble, 3–4 places down with the in-phase bell, and finally 3–4 places up with the treble, becoming the 3rd place bell. Each of these sets of Yorkshire places is preceded by a missed dodge, where you pass the treble if you’re going down, and the in-phase bell if you’re going up.
After doing the backwork as 3rd place bell you become the 4th place bell, beginning immediately with 3–4 places down with the treble, 3–4 places up with the in-phase bell, 5–6 places down with the treble and 1–2 places up with the in-phase bell. Each set of places is followed by a missed dodge where you pass the treble or the in-phase bell. The work ends with a 5–6 up dodge, becoming the 5th place bell.
This can be generalized to higher numbers of bells. Beginning with the 6th place bell, places down are with the in-phase bell, starting in 1–2 down and moving one dodging position higher and earlier each we come down to the front: so 1–2 down the first time, then 3–4 down, then 5–6 down etc. Between each of these places down we have to do places up with the treble, beginning in the highest internal position (5–6 in Major, 7–8 in Royal, 9–10 in Maximus, and so on) and moving one dodging position lower and earlier each time we leave the front, finishing with 3–4 places up.
We can look in more detail at how a couple of bells in Yorkshire Surprise Major meet the in-phase bells. The 4th place bell, and then the 8th, are sufficient to show what is going on. First the 4th place bell:
12-4—-
214—– 4 meets the treble so does places and dodges with treble (Yorkshire places in 3–4 down)
124—–
21-4—-
2-14—-
‑241—-
2-14—-
‑241—- 4 completes the dodge with the treble and meets the 2, so passes it, missing a dodge in 1–2 down
-42-1— which puts it back out of phase, so it can treble bob with the other out-of-phase bells
4–2-1–
4-2-1— 4 starts treble-bobbing up, from 1–2
-4-2-1–
4—251-
-4–52-1
–4-251- 4 dodges in 3–4
—452-1
–4-25-1
—4521- 4 encounters the 5 above it (the in-phase bell)
—425-1 so makes places and dodges up with it (Yorkshire places in 3–4 up)
–4-521-
–45-1–
–541—
–45-1–
–541—
‑5-14— having dodged with the in-phase 5, 4 meets the treble and plain hunts past it
5-1–4–
‑5-1–4- which puts 4 back out of phase, so it resumes treble-bobbing with the other bells
5-1—-4
51—-4-
15—–4
51—–4
15—-4-
15—–4 4 becomes the 8th place bell
And continuing as the 8th place bell:
15—–8
21—-8- 8 goes down to 5–6 and dodges
12—8–
21–8—
2-1–8–
‑2-18— where it encounters the treble, so make places and dodge with the treble (Yorkshire places in 5–6 down)
2-1-8—
‑2-1-8–
–2-18–
—281–
–2-18–
—281– having dodged with the treble, 8 encounters the 2 (treble-bobbing up in phase)
—8251- so passes it, missing a dodge, which puts it back out of phase
–8-52-1
-8–251- 8 resumes out-of-phase treble-bobbing, dodging 1–2 down
8—52-1
-8–25-1
8—521-
8—25-1 8 dodges 1–2 up
-8–521-
8–5-1–
-85-1— and meets the in-phase 5
-8-5-1– so makes places (2nds, 1st)
8-5-1— to get into phase with the 5
85-1—- and dodges with the in-phase 5 (Yorkshire places in 1–2 up)
581—–
85-1—-
581—– 8 meets the treble so hunts past it, missing the dodge in 3–4 to get back out of phase
518—–
15-8—-
51–8— 8 resumes treble-bobbing out of phase
15—8–
15–8— 8 becomes the 5th place bell