Netherton peal board Funeral of Queen Victoria

A peal board records on a wooden, metal, stone or canvas plaque a

peal In campanology (bell ringing), a peal is the special name given to a specific type of performance of change ringing which meets certain exacting conditions for duration, complexity and quality. The definition of a peal has changed considerably o ...

rung on church bells.

Peal

In modern terms a peal is the ringing of 5000 or more different changes on bells (5040 on 7 or fewer bells) in the "English style" of

change ringing Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in which the ringers commit to memor ...

. The

Central Council of Church Bell Ringers The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR) is an organisation founded in 1891 which represents ringers of church bells in the English style. It acts as a co-ordinating body for education, publicity and codifying change ringing rules, al ...

determines the rules for allowing a peal.

Peal board

Early peal boards often record a historical first achievement such as first peal on the bells (such as the first in the city of Chester) or the first peal of a particular method. More commonly they record an event such as a royal occasion, induction of an

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

or funeral of a ringer. Many important peal boards were destroyed by

incendiary bomb Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, th ...

s during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

including that recording the first peal by the College Youths in 1725 at

St Brides St Brides ( cy, Sain Ffraid) is a parish and small coastal village in Pembrokeshire, Wales, at the south of St Brides Bay, about north of the larger village of Marloes, with which it forms the Marloes and St Brides Community (Wales), community. ...

References

{{reflist Campanology