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Shipton Peal 10am-1pm
12 September, 2015 @ 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
A full peal will be rung on the bells of St Mary’s Church in celebration of the 900th anniversary. The bells will be rung by a team of ringers from the Chipping Norton Branch of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers and invited friends. The ringing will be of 5040 changes and will take just short of 3 hours of continuous ringing. The significance of 5040 is that it is the maximum number of sequences of the order in which 7 bells can be rung without repeating a sequence.
Since 1893 when the number of bells in the tower was increased from 5 to 8, and the ringing chamber was moved from the ground floor to its present position, a total of 64 peals have been rung on St Mary’s bells. The first being on 16th December of that year and the last on Tuesday 12th September 1989 by a team from the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers. This last date may be coincidental or may be related to the fact that the traditional date to celebrate the Feast of St Mary the Virgin was September 8th.