We had some work down in deepest, Darkest Hertfordshire, we were driving between a job in Sawbridgeworth and a job in Little Halingbury when we saw this thatched witch on a roof in the village of Gaston Green. Although we see plenty of animals on thatched roofs, I must admit that I have never seen anything like this before. We just had to stop the van and take a photo.  There is a lot of folk law and mythology attached to thatched rooves and witches. A noticeable feature frequently found on many thatched rooves is a raised sloping end to the ridge of the roof. Myth and folk law has it that these sloping ends are a defence to prevent witches landing on the roof. Other witch defences found on thatched roves around East Anglia include sharp pointed sticks on top of the ridge, in particular at the raised sloping ends of the ridge. Other thatch folk law indicates that it was quite common for people to hide items like coins, clothing, shoes, dead animals or pieces of bread in the thatching in order to ward off witches, evil spirits, and or poverty. These items are thought to act as a talisman to ward off whatever malevolent force was intended be it witches, evil spirits, or poverty. Shoes, for example, were often hidden within the thatch or rafters. This practice, dating back to at least the 18th and 19th centuries, was rooted in the belief that a shoe, being closely connected to the foot, retained a part of the person’s soul. On occasions, mummified cats are found lodged in old chimneys, apparently, the cats were put in chimneys to ward off witches and the evil eye.

 We saw this mobile sauna in the coast car park at Dunwich whilst we were on our February break. I must admit that my initial thought was who is going to be sweeping that chimney. As you can see, the sauna is in an old horse box and has a sauna stove at one end. Whilst we were there, on what was a very cold day with a strong North Easterly wind, we watched people come out of the sauna and run straight in the sea. Absolute madness!

The sauna stove is a Narvi, a Finish based in a place called Turku. The company specialize in making sauna stoves. The company was founded in 1937 by Lake Narvi, the company bears the Finnish Key Flag Symbol, which means that all Narvi sauna heaters are designed and manufactured in Finland with at least 95% of production taking place within the country.

Narvi

Linnankatu 26 44B
20100 Turku, Finland

+358 20 7416 740  export@narvi.fi

This past week, we have had a little break staying away at a cottage close to the Suffolk coast. We stayed in a lovely cozy cottage called Easter Cottage in the Village of Westleton near Dunwich. It was great as both our girls Emma and Katie were able to stay for the weekend as well as our three cockers, Millie, Maggie and Roger. After the weekend they all went home leaving us with the problem child Maggie, who then enjoyed a long beach walk every day! On a couple of occasions only we saw some beautiful Suffolk sunsets. Although it did rain a lot, we did manage to do a lot of walking and also had the time to visit three medieval churches.

We walked to St Peter’s church in Westleton from the holiday cottage. It is grade II* listed, thatched and has exceptionally long nave and chancel. The present church dates from 1340 when the original Anglo-Saxon building was completely rebuilt. The original foundation of the church is linked to the monks of Sibton Priory. The porch is roofed with characteristic East Anglian pantiles. Originally, the church had a tower, but this collapsed during a storm in 1770. The replacement tower was demolished during World War II after it was struck by a bomb and became structurally unsound. Notably the south chancel wall has an early 14^th century triple sedilia and piscina with cinquefoil cusped arches under continuous moulding and circular pillars with broad capitals and bases.

We visited the Grade I listed Frostenden church of All Saints on our return journey from Covehithe. The church with its distinctive tall round tower can be seen for miles. The tower is believed to be one of the oldest in Suffolk potentially dating back to Saxon times. The body of the church dates mainly from the 13^th century. Notably the porch has some old graffiti carved into it, one reading ‘1606’. The floor of the church is a rather uneven pavement, but which is charming by its very nature. The interior is very simple with mostly 20^th century glass.

 We visited Covehithe after a long walk with Maggie on the beach in a constant cold drizzle. The church of St Andrew is almost two churches in one. There are the ruins and tower of the original large 14^th/15^th Century church and nestling within the small, thatched parish church dating to 1672. The oldest fabric in the original large medieval church dates from the 14th century, although most of it is from the 15th century. During the Civil War much of the stained glass was destroyed by the local iconoclast William Dowsing. By the later part of that century the large church was too expensive for the parishioners to maintain, and they were given permission in 1672 to remove the roof and to build a much smaller church within it. This small church is still in use, while the tower and the ruins of the old church are maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust.

Yesterday Claire and I travelled up north to the Fylde to attend the funeral of Veronica, our dear friend Dom’s mum. Whilst it was a sad occasion it was also a joyous celebration of Veronica’s life, with many, many people attending, a testament to the friendly, supportive loving person she was. As was said on the day, she was irreplaceable and will be sadly missed by everyone who had the privilege to know her. The whole event went off well and was particularly well organised and executed a credit to Dom, his older brother Mike and sister Loretta. Mike and Loretta and Lorretta’s husband Adrian had travelled all the way from Perth in Western Australia to be there, and it was really good to see them and many other people after such a very long time. We also got to see and chat with Dom’s lovely partner Rachel, which is always a pleasure, as well as seeing Rachel’s ever so cute Jack Russell little Radish. It is certainly a day that will live in mine and Claire’s memory.

I almost forgot to mention that the reception was at the impressive Singleton Lodge Hotel in Poulton-Le-Fylde, hence the photo of me next to a lit Cleanburn Stove, which was in the hotel lobby – Claire couldn’t resist the photo, she never stops thinking of work that girl!!

Birds nest removal is something we have to do in the autumn as legally we can not remove Jackdaw nests from chimneys between 1^st March and 1^st September. This is because nesting birds are protected by the law (Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981) and it is an offence to disturb a nest and destroy any birds. So, we as sweeps are restricted to that time of year when the birds are not nesting and raising their young. Unfortunately for us this just so happens to coincide with our busiest time of year. As we work 6 days a week in the autumn, nest removal usually means working on a Sunday to get the chimney cleared. They are usually very dirty and time-consuming jobs to do, lots of dust sheeting is usually required prior to working on removing the nest.

This nest removal job was in an upstairs bedroom, which obviously creates the additional issue of carrying all the equipment up the stairs. And in this instance covering a large amount quantity of very light carpet, bedding and furnishings. I removed the nest by initially hooking out the bottom section of the nest using a rod and a ‘pig’s tail’ attachment. This was just to give myself room to work in the chimney. I then used rotary power sweeping equipment with steel cord flails to break up the nest. Finally, I brush swept the chimney with an inglenook brush to clean out all the dust and soot. I used my large CCTV camera to check that the chimney was completely clear of nest, and I conducted a type two smoke test to check the draw – Job done! It transpired that there was seven meters of nest in the chimney which equated to nine large garden trugs of nest material.

 Here is a very historic property that we have swept for on an annual basis for many years now, Ashdon Guildhall. The Guildhall or to give it its full title the Guildhall of St Mary, is situated just behind All Saints Church at Church End at the top end of the village just off the road to Saffron Walden. The guildhall was constructed in the 15^th century and is indicative of the wealth and prosperity of Ashdon at that time. A guildhall is a historic building in Britain and Europe, originally used by medieval merchant and craft guilds for meetings, trade, and tax collection (from Old English gild meaning payment).

In terms of sweeping, the guildhall has two modern lined stoves one of which is located upstairs (Dovre and Coalbrookdale stoves). This keeps us busy in the autumn, particularly moving all the sweeping equipment upstairs – A big effort for a pair of oldies like me and Claire!!

The Guildhall of St Mary is a Grade II* listed building, first listed on 26^th November 1951, Listing Number 1112492.

 If I’m being perfectly honest, removing bees’ nests from chimneys is my least favourite chimney sweeping activity. It is not so much the job, although that can be rather dirty and sticky, it is having to clean all the equipment of sticky mess afterwards that I find quite unpleasant! This particular job was unusual in that rather than waiting for the bees to die off, pest control had been called in to kill them. The reason being that the family whose home it was had two very young children, indeed one of them had been born during the bee crisis. To get into the chimney the bees had mined an entrance through the masonry at the base of the chimney stack. So, the bees were getting into the house and everyone had been stung, so pest control had to be called to kill the bees.

This however was not the end of their tribulations; within a short time wasps got into the chimney through the same entrance at the base of the chimney stack that the bees had made. Pest control were again called and all the wasps were dispatched. Things now moved at a pace, scaffolding was quickly erected and on our recommendation John and Mark Taylor the builders came to make the chimney good. We swept what was a very extensive bees’ nest from the chimney using rotary power sweeping equipment. Fortunately for ourselves, the wasps had eaten a lot of the honey, so we only got a bit stick. There was a happy ending as the family who for a time had to move out of their home, were able to move back in.

We can highly recommend the builders we used: J. Taylor & Sons, (John & Mark) 01799 586582 (M) 07885 493034 or 07854 027082 – Email admin@jtaylorandsons.co.uk

In September for a couple of days we had the company of local lad Andy Bannister, who had recently retired from working for Uttlesford Council in Saffron Walden. We have been sweeping Andy’s chimney in Radwinter for a good few years and he had always spoke of the possibility of taking up chimney sweeping when he retired. So, on a couple of days Andy came out with us to get an idea of whether he would actually like or be any good at the job. In two days, he saw most types of sweeping jobs and experienced the best and worst of days sweeping.

On the first day it was warm and pleasantly sunny, and we spent the day sweeping in and around Kedington, Hundon, Clare, Stoke-By-Clare and Cavendish all of which is quite picturesque. On the second day it rained heavily all day, and we had a flat tire which we had to change in the rain which put us behind our time for the whole day. We got around in the end though!

All said and done, Andy said that he enjoyed chimney sweeping and would seriously consider taking it up. He appeared to me to have all the right qualities for the job, he is practically minded and he was very good with the customers, chatting with them and putting them at their ease. In the meantime, Andy has found a driving job for Burtons Butchers in Saffron Walden and seems happy doing that for the time being. But you never know, some time in the future he may decide to become a chimney sweep!

Here is a fine example of a thatched kangaroo this time on a roof in Suffolk and the work of Clive Dodson, Master Thatcher of Cambridgeshire. It is very close to a thatched address we sweep at in West Wickham. There is another Thatched Kangaroo on a roof in this country, this one being on the roof of a tearoom in Godshill on the Isle of Wight. It actually caused quite a stir when it first went up. Under the BBC headline ‘Kangaroo told to hop off’, it was reported that the owner of the Royal Essex Cottage restaurant and tea room was having to apply for planning permission for the large thatched kangaroo when locals complained of its presence! The locals stated that the three-foot-high Kangaroo did not fit in with the heritage of the area.

The kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning “large foot”). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo, and western grey kangaroo. Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea. The Australian government estimates that 34.3 million kangaroos lived within the commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2011, up from 25.1 million one year earlier.

As with the terms “wallaroo” and “wallaby“, “kangaroo” refers to a paraphyletic grouping of species. All three refer to members of the same taxonomic family, Macropodidae, and are distinguished according to size. The largest species in the family are called “kangaroos” and the smallest are generally called “wallabies”. The term “wallaroos” refers to species of an intermediate size. There are also the tree-kangaroos, another type of macropod, which inhabit the tropical rainforests of New Guinea, far northeastern Queensland and some of the islands in the region.

I just had to share this beautiful and kind Christmas gift we received from friend and brilliant artist Richard. Pictured in the snow are our three working Cocker Spaniels, Millie (Black), Roger (Brown) and Maggie (Black & white). Richard has really captured their characters and the way they sit in the garden at times! What a fantastic surprise Christmas gift!

You can view and buy Richard’s fantastic artwork on intergram @dickie_illustration

You can contact Richard Smith on rich.b.smith@me.co (mobile) 07999 989616