Grahamstown’s skyline is cluttered with chimneys. The beautiful old Victorian homes in this historic town sport yellowwood floors, sash windows… and old fire places – lots of them.
Grahamstown’s skyline is cluttered with chimneys. The beautiful old Victorian homes in this historic town sport yellowwood floors, sash windows… and old fire places – lots of them.
These may be picturesque, and are the very thing in winter – but clogged-up chimneys have been named as a leading cause of household fires, because soot build-up is highly flammable. So a chimney needs to be cleaned regularly.
There are chimney sweeps a plenty in the Western Cape and Johannesburg areas – look in the Yellow Pages and you’ll find Mr Sweep and A Step in Time Chimney Sweeps – but no lucky chimney sweep for Grahamstown’s unlucky residents.
An old man used to do his yearly rounds among the old homes and buildings, residents recall, but he died, leaving a gap in our sooty town. But why is there such a demand for the likes of Mary Poppins’s sidekick?
Many a legend surrounds the soot-smothered chimney sweeps and one of the stories, close to home, has its origin in the Albany farming district. An elderly farmer reckoned that the best way to clean a chimney involved a chicken.
You had to tie a rope around its legs, place a old tobacco bag over its head to protect its eyes from the soot and lower the fowl down the chimney – where it would flap its wings, up and down its length, and give you a nice clean chimney. Whether this was actually a common practice has not been confirmed by independent sources.
Chimney sweeps date back to early industrial Europe, when chimney sweeps were in high demand – and chimneys were large enough for a man to climb inside. The job has been romanticised by literature and media, giving rise to the image of the good natured, jovial chimney sweeper, immortalised in the story of Mary Poppins, the magical English nanny.
The legend of the luck that chimney sweeps bring began more than 200 years ago, after a chimney sweep saved the life of King George III. He had been brave enough to halt the King’s stampeding horses. It was proclaimed by Royal Decree that all sweeps were bearers of good luck and should be treated with respect.
In parts of Britain, it is still considered lucky for a chimney sweep to kiss a bride on her wedding day, giving rise to a market for chimney sweeps to hire for weddings and special appearances. Further east, in Poland and Croatia, chimney sweeps still wear the all-black uniform and black hat, and it is considered good luck to rub or grab one of their golden buttons.
Popular lucky gifts in Germany are depictions of chimney sweeps, with their black suits and top hats. The connection between sweeps and hearths, which represent the heart of the home, makes coal given by a sweep a particularly good omen. Soldiers used to carry lumps of coal into battle and sailors would place coal in their pockets while at sea.
A much soot-after skill
After many phone calls and lots of dead-ends, Grocott’s Mail located a chimney sweep able to service chimneys in the Eastern Cape. Originally from Port Elizabeth, L.P. Gaz Solutions have recently opened in Port Alfred. They specialise in repairs, maintenance, installations of all gas appliances and all chimney needs. They can be reached on 082 828 2707/ 046 624 8070. Happy Sweeping!
