History Of Chimney Sweeps
In Britain, the first chimneys were built around the thirteenth century-the influence of the French conquerors spread the practice through the country quite fast. These early chimneys were much wider than their modern counterparts, so drawing them was generally a nicely easy task kept to the homeowners themselves. As the cities grew, so did a chimney sweeping industry to suit the new leisured classes, who did not appreciate getting soot on their precious coats. The great fire of London in 1666 changed everything. With a third of the city razed, the engineers set out to rebuild everything according to the new style. These new houses had chimneys erected with far lower confines, so the old practice of sweeping came much harder. With grown-ups no longer suitable to fit outside, the job snappily fell to children to climb inside the chimneys. They were generally orphans, who were bought from the original church orphanages. Paradoxically the money from these deals generally kept the orphan