Peal

The definition of a peal has changed considerably over the years and its standardisation was one of the motivating factors in the formation of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers in 1891.

On typical tower bells a peal takes around three hours to ring; the time depends on several factors including the number of changes and the weight of the bells, which affects the speed of ringing.

The extent on eight bells comprises 40,320 changes, and would be referred to today as a long-length peal.

The first method ringing peal in this modern sense took place at St Peter Mancroft Church in Norwich, in 1715, and was in the method "Grandsire Bob Triples", which is equivalent to the modern Plain Bob Triples.

They are both a physical and mental challenge, as concentration has to be maintained for a long period of time, and each individual ringer has to ring their bell without a break, and depending on ringing style and bell weight can cause physical tiredness.

According to the best available knowledge in 2017, 6,929 peals of Grandsire Caters (on 10 bells) were rung in the 300 years following 11 January 1711.

Grandsire Caters was the leading 10-bell method in each decade from 1711 to 1890, but Stedman Caters has proved more popular recently and on 9 July 2010 its cumulative peal total from 1711 pulled ahead of the running Grandsire total.

[6] "Raising in peal" does not refer to ringing a peal, but is the process where a band of ringers increases the swing of tower bells from mouth down to mouth upwards while keeping them ringing in rounds.

These generally meet most of the rules for a peal, but need be only a quarter the length (i.e. at least 1,260 or 1,250 changes, depending on the number of bells).