The Lucky Chimney Sweep is your insurance approved chimney sweep for ensuring the safety and efficiency of your chimney, flues, wood burning and multi fuel stoves, as well as open fires. I specialize in meticulous cleaning and inspections to promote safety and functionality in every sweep.
07903460803
Located in Eastbourne, The Lucky Chimney Sweep is dedicated to delivering clean and efficient chimney sweep services for both residential and commercial clients. My services include power sweeping with vacuum and issuance of insurance approved certificates, CCTV inspections, smoke draw tests, fireplace and stove safety inspections, servicing of stoves including replacement of fire ropes, bricks, and glass to ensure compliance with safety standards, removal of animal nests, installation and replacement of chimney pot cowlings and stack repairs including repointing.
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Why are Chimney Sweeps Considered Lucky?
Throughout history and folklore there are various stories that attribute luck to chimney sweeps.
Lucky Chimney sweeps show up in much literature from Mary Poppins, in which shaking the hand of a sweep is considered lucky, to Ulysses, in which a minor character invokes soots’ luck.
The historian Philip Brown explored the concept of sweeps being lucky and considers that it may have something to do with the ancient Roman's association between soot and fertility with Vulcan, the God of fire and forge who married Venus, the goddess of love. One common story involves king George II, during a royal procession a dog is said to have nipped at the king's steed making the horse spook and bolt. A chimney sweep is said to have appeared out of the crowd, brought the horse under control before disappearing back into the crowd. From that day onward the king declared that all sweeps should be regarded as lucky.
Another royal association with lucky sweeps includes that of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip - on the morning of their 1947 wedding Prince Phillip was said to have popped out of Kensington palace and shook hands with a chimney sweep. Today, seeing a chimney sweep on your wedding day is still considered a lucky omen and many couples choose to have them at their wedding.
It is considered a lucky tradition to make a wish when you see a chimney sweep brush poking out of the top of a chimney pot. It said to come from the days when young boys used to climb the chimney with a brush and it is believed that it was luck that they survived the conditions.
Thankfully times have moved on since then and fortunately, no young boys will be harmed on my job. New techniques these days include rotary rods, brushes and a vacuum system to evacuate and debris with no mess.
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The Climbing Boys
Back in the day being a chimney sweep was a harsh profession which included harsh child labour. Young children often as young as four or five, either orphans, from impoverished backgrounds or sold into the job by their parents were used for chimney sweeping due to their small size that enabled them to fit into the very narrow spaces.
The young children were reliant on their 'master sweep' for employment, clothing and food and were tied to their master into adulthood. The child apprentice would eventually climb through the ranks and may go on to become a master sweep themselves - that is if they survived the harsh conditions...Many chimney's would still be hot from a fire causing burns to the children's skin. Some would get stuck as well as suffer dreadful health problems including lung conditions, as well as injuries and deformities caused by the cramped spaces.
The plight of these young children was encapsulated in the William Blake poem “The Chimney Sweep”“When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue, Could scarcely cry weep weep weep weep. So your chimneys I sweep and in soot I sleep.” - William Blake
Thankfully, by 1788 things were changing for the profession where the first 'Chimney Sweep Act' was brought into place, this aimed to regulate the employment and safety of chimney sweeps, particularly children. The Chimney Sweepers Act of 1834 increased the minimum age for apprenticeship to 10 and for active climbing to 14, and subsequent acts, such as the 1875 Act, introduced further regulations like mandatory police registration and the prohibition of certain practices, responding to continued concerns about exploitation.