One hundred years of one house in Chorlton part 56 ............ when to call in the sweep

The continuing story of the house Joe and Mary Ann Scott lived in for over 50 years and the families that have lived here since.*

Now I wonder when Joe and Mary Ann called time on the open fire for the year and got the sweep in.

Judging by this April I reckon it would still be not yet, for while we can have those sunny even hot days the nights can be cold, and unlike us they did not have central heating.

That said these days with all the children gone we often just heat the one room and on cold nights  just make a dash for the bedroom when the night is finished.

I suspect like us it will have been another month before they gave up the open fires and called in the sweep.

Back in  1911 there were sixty-three sweeps in the city and we had three.

There was Henry Thomas at number 3 Vicars Rd, Charles Morris, at 12 Sandy Lane and Henry Thomas at 4 Brownhill Buildings, Sandy Lane.

This surprised me given the predominance of coal for heating, and the very real need to keep them swept to avoid chimney fires.

Originally the job was done with brushes and I can still remember the sweep at home pushing the broom up and around the chimney, sweeping the soot clear until finally the brush appeared at top poking out of the chimney.

Today the business is done with a vacuum cleaner although John who does ours still uses a brush at the start, but this is more to do with checking which flu goes where.

So I think we will be making that call soon, after all once the fires are finished with it makes sense to clean them straight away or on those very hot days you run the risk of a smelly chimney.

And as everyone leaves it to the last moment finding an appointment with John can get tricky once September is nearly over.

So we have booked John and Acorn  Chimney Sweeping Services for the end of May.**

Now Joe and Mary Ann were very forward thinking people and they would have invested in some of the first electric fires, so for them like us I rather think as April gives way to May the moment will have arrived to call time on the coal man and the fire and wait for John to arrive.






Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson



*The story of a house,
http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%20of%20a%20house

**Acorn Chimney Sweeping Services, http://acornchimneysweepingservices.co.uk/contact