This has become an annual event, our visit to Moyns Park House close to Birdbrook. Moyns Park House could be described as a proper stately home, it dates back to the 15^th century at time when Elizabeth 1^st was on the throne, it has a moat, and 20-metre-tall chimneys. The inglenook chimney in the great hall, the one we sweep, is so large you can stand up in it. We do enjoy are appointment there, it is like visiting a National Trust or English Heritage site.

The Wikipedia entry for Moyns Park tells us the following: Moyns Park is a Grade I listed Elizabethan country house in Steeple Bumpstead, north Essex, England. The home of the Gent family, until the late 19th century, was once owned by Major-General Cecil Robert St John Ives, maternal grandfather of Ivar Bryce, the next owner. Bryce was a close friend of the author Ian Fleming, who stayed at the house in the summer of 1956. When Bryce’s wife, Josephine Hartford, an A&P heiress and sister of Huntington Hartford, died in 1992, she left the estate to Lord Ivar Mountbatten and George Mountbatten, 4th Marquess of Milford Haven. Ivar Bryce’s first cousin Janet Mercedes Bryce had been married to David Mountbatten and was the mother of Ivar and George Mountbatten. Lord Ivar Mountbatten lived in the house with his wife, Penelope Thompson, before selling it in 1997. It is said that Fleming made final changes to his novel From Russia, with Love in the house. The house was also the location for several Hammer Horror films. The house was also used as a residential Riding School in and around 1949, with courses in dressage, show jumping and short B.H.S courses. The chief instructor was C. Coombs MBE.

The name Moyns is believed to have its origins in the name of the Le Moyne family who under Gilbert Le Moyne remained in England after the Norman invasion of 1066. The family ran through several major and minor lines of nobles and gentry such as the De Warrens, Gents, Darbys, Dalstons (of Cumberland), and many others. The family is now linked to many others by marriage, e.g. Speakmans, Boutflowers, Glasses, Chenevix-Trenchs, and more.

The area in the Le Moynes once had lands that encompassed Hedingham Castle and other villages over a swathe of Essex. The Gents held their first court at Moyns in the early 16th century and the estate grew and continued to do so under Sir Thomas Gent (Queen Elizabeth’s Baron of the Exchequer, Sergeant-at-Law and later judge).

According to an article in The Essex Countryside of May 1965 by GC Harper, the house was once moated, and takes its name from its first owner who had it built, Robert de Fitzwilliam le Moigne in the early C14, but little but the SW wing remains from C15. It remained in that family for 200 years, then passed by marriage to William Gent. His son Thomas became MP for Maldon in 1571 and a ‘trusted assistant’ to Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth 1’s Secretary of State & spymaster, whence he rose to 2nd Baron of the Exchequer. He sat in judgement at the trial of the conspirators of the Babington Plot to assassinate the Queen and replace her with Mary Queen of Scots. His wealth & status led him to rebuild the west front, completed by his son Henry, as he died in 1593. Thomas signed a petition to Walsingham requesting he write to the governors of the Dutch congregation in Colchester & demand that 20-30 families return to Halstead to resume the cloth trade there, but to no avail. George Gent d. 1818 was a magistrate for more than 60 years. The right to appoint the headmaster of the school in Steeple Bumpstead belonged until c.1835 to the owner of Moyns. The Moyns occupancy ceased in 1879 when it was sold to Major General Cecil Robert St John Ives, whose grandson John Bryce occupied it in the 1960s. The gardens of the 200-acre estate had yew topiary, and the paths were said to be planted to a plan by Lord Bacon, with a bowling green one of the oldest.

We have just returned from our annual chimney sweeping visit to south Wales. This involves sweeping the chimneys of Claire’s dad’s friends in the Wenvoe farming community and a couple of addresses in Mumbles Swansea, for free! Claire’s dad, David Phillips lives and farms at Vishwell Farm, he has a Clearview Vision 500 Multi-Fuel Stove on a factory-made chimney. The other sweeps were at Wristone Farm & Annex, Gilbert Farm in Barry, two addresses in Walston Road in Wenvoe,  an old miners cottage in Llanbradach, Mumbles and Bishopston Swansea. Although he is 88 he’s still farming 150 acres with around 80 head of beef cattle, runs a sizeable caravan site and has two converted stone barns to manage.

This year we swept nine chimneys in total, all of which were lined stoves, bar one standard open fire, which makes things quite easy. As usual, much tea was drunk, and cake and biscuits consumed along the way! We were fit to burst from all the kindness once we were done!

The sweeping included two Clearview Vision 500’s, a Villager Flatmate, a Villager Chelsea, A Hunter Hawk, an ACR Woodpecker, and a Double-sided Woodwarm Fireview. Truly a busman’s holiday in another country.

I swept this monster just the other day in Bardfield Saling, the stove is so big, the door opens from the top and drops down towards you, it’s the largest version of the studio that I have swept before. I do see lots of Stovax Studio’s as they are a very popular contemporary stove, but this one is something else and you require a large room to put one in! They have a very contemporary appearance, so lend themselves to very modern contemporary homes, but the also make a nice juxtaposition when installed in an older property. I often joke with those customers who have studio stoves, that if they ever get fed up using it as a stove, they could always use it as a fish tank and start keeping tropical fish! Seriously though, I actually like these stoves, they are very stylish and contemporary in appearance, and they certainly show off the fire in the firebox once they are alight. The customers report that they are also very efficient and deliver a great deal of warmth when they are in operation.

Stovax make the Studio model as a freestanding stove or as a cassette stove and it comes in four sizes of the model, The Studio1, Studio 2, Studio 3 and Studio 500. Stovax state in their sales blurb: The Studio Freestanding range has been designed to create a striking feature in your living space with their enticing widescreen wood burning flame visuals complemented by an extensive array of frames and styling options. The pure, simplistic form of the Studio stove range belies the high levels of engineering and technical innovation that keeps this range not only at the forefront of twenty first century fire design, but also exceptional performance and controllability.

Stovax are a British company established in 1981, based in Exeter, and are the largest manufacturer of stoves and fireplaces in the UK. Stovax also manufacture a number of other stove brands including Yeoman, Dovre, Nordpeis, Lotus and Varde.

https://www.stovax.com/information/about-us/

Here we are again sweeping for the Bishop of Chelmsford and we are quite some way from home, sweeping the Rectory at Lawford near Manningtree. Being a Sunday Claire decided to stay in bed for a lie-in and I took my eldest daughter Emma to assist me. Emma had not long finished reading the novel ‘The Manningtree Witches’  and was keen to see the area, she is also a qualified archaeologist and Heritage Town Planner and likes nothing better than visiting old buildings.

Lawford is a Rectory where we have swept on an number of occasions, and has a small open fire, the chimney of which is lined.  Indeed, on the first occasion I went there I removed a substantial Jackdaw nest from the chimney, which was not surprising as the rectory had stood empty for around two years prior to my visits. The rectory is located on top of a hill, right next door to the beautiful medieval church of St Mary. The rectory’s close proximity to the church yard and all its trees, explains why there was a bird’s nest in the chimney as Jackdaws like nothing more than the trees and peace of a church yard.

St Mary’s church is a grade one listed building and is well worth a visit. Its architectural features are stunning and most interesting. The oldest fabric in the church is in the south wall of the nave, dating from 1200 or earlier. The chancel, the south porch and the first tower were built in 1340. The tower was rebuilt in the 16th century, and again in the following century. In 1826 the north wall of the nave and the north aisle were added. In 1853, when the rector was Revd Charles Merivale (later the Dean of Ely), the interior of the chancel was restored by the Lancaster architect E. G. Paley. The nave was restored in 1864, followed by the chancel walls in 1887. In 1944 the east window was damaged by a bomb. In 1991 an extension was made to the north of the church to house a vestry and meeting rooms, and in 2009 the roof and tower were repaired and parts of the interior of the church were modernised.

The church is constructed in flint, septaria and brick, with limestone dressings and a tiled roof. The plan consists of a three-bay nave with a south porch, a north aisle, a chancel, a north vestry, and a west tower with a stair turret on the southeast. In the chancel are a 14th-century piscina and a triple sedilia. The octagonal pulpit dates from about 1906. In 1906 a two-manual pipe organ made by Norman and Beard was installed. This was replaced by an electronic organ made by Copeman Hart in 2005.^[3] There is a ring of three bells, dated 1667, 1714, and 1907

The churchyard contains the graves of the war poet Robert Nichols and his father John Bowyer Buchanan Nichols, also a poet. The grave of the Canadian politician John Robertson also lies in the churchyard, as do the war graves of a soldier and two airmen of the Second World War.

I must admit that I don’t sweep that many Portway stoves, but when I have done it is the popular Portway One model. However, the other day I came across this slightly larger example of a Portway Luxima Multi-Fuel Stove at an address in Stansted. Although it is not the most exciting of stoves, I thought that it would make a worthy blog, if nothing else for its rarity/novelty value. On speaking to the customer I found that they were more than happy with the stoves performance, with them saying that it heats the room very well. They told me that they burnt a combination of wood, smokeless and biomass, coffee logs, compressed logs etc. The customer also made his own biomass logs out of compressed cardboard, by making papier-mâché bricks and drying them, he said they burnt well, taking about 20 minutes to burn through completely, about the same time as a log, but not as much heat.

Portway Stoves are not a local company, they are based up north in Stoke-On-Trent and have a long history dating back to the 1900’s. Portway multifuel and wood burning stoves began in the early 1800’s when the owner of an ironmongery store took inspiration from the very first enclosed metal stoves which first appeared in North America at the end of the 1700’s and custom built his own stove to heat his Halstead based store.

Charles Portway’s design proved to be so successful that a neighbouring shopkeeper asked Portway to build a stove to heat his store also. Soon afterwards Portway set up a small foundry manufacturing solid fuel stoves that were so successful they lasted up to the 1980’s almost without any change.

The beauty behind the success of Portway’s stoves was in their efficiency. The stoves burned so slowly that they extracted the maximum amount of heat from the fuel. The stoves were named ‘Tortoise’ stoves and proudly produced with the motto ‘Slow but Sure’ displayed on the front. It was the first heating appliance to offer fuel efficiency as a major selling point making its role in the development of our industry of great significance today. Robert Higgs, the chief executive of the Heating and Ventilating contractors association argues the Portway was the “founding father of energy efficiency”.

Portway’s stoves were used to heat churches and halls as well as homes and 19th Century stoves displaying the iconic ‘Tortoise’ trademark can still be found today, making it one of the oldest, most resilient products in the history of heating. Even today, at 80% efficiency, Portway stoves are amongst the most efficient multifuel stoves on the market. This means that you need to burn less fuel to get more heat compared to similar products on the market.

Portway multifuel stoves are capable of burning a wide range of natural and manufactured fuels. Wood is a renewable and carbon-neutral energy source since a tree will use up more carbon during the course of its lifetime than is produced when it is burned. Thus, making the use of wood the most environmentally friendly energy source available today. Both hard woods and soft woods can be used in our stoves. Portway stoves will also burn a number of other fuels such as, peat, straw, sawdust briquettes, anthracite, lignite and most natural and manufactured mineral fuels. Each stove is made from 96% easily recyclable material and all cast parts, such as doors and grates, are manufactured from 70% recycled iron. Every Portway stove carries independently tested CE Approval to standard EN13240 and are approved for use in smoke free zones when burning anthracite or any other authorized smokeless fuel. They can also be used in smoke free zones in the Republic of Ireland when burning wood or peat briquettes.

Portway Stoves

BFM Europe Ltd,

Gordon Banks Drive,

Trentham Lakes,

Staffordshire, ST4 4TJ

Tel: 01782 339000

Email via website

https://www.portwaystoves.com/

Now this is a rather majestic piece of thatched statuary, this soring golden eagle. This is another fine example of the master thatcher’s craft by Clive Dodson, Master Thatcher of Cambridgeshire. I think it is amazing that with just a bit of straw he has been able to capture the movement of flight in this awesome bird of prey. From where I’m looking this eagle looks like its just about to take off and burst into flight as it spreads its wings. Truly terrific.

The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is one of the best-known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. These birds are dark brown, with lighter golden-brown plumage on their napes. Immature eagles of this species typically have white on the tail and often have white markings on the wings. Golden eagles use their agility and speed combined with powerful feet and massive, sharp talons to snatch up a variety of prey, mainly hares, rabbits, and marmots and other ground squirrels. Golden eagles maintain home ranges or territories that may be as large as 200 km² (77 sq mi). They build large nests in cliffs and other high places to which they may return for several breeding years. Most breeding activities take place in the spring; they are monogamous and may remain together for several years or possibly for life. Females lay up to four eggs, and then incubate them for six weeks. Typically, one or two young survive to fledge in about three months. These juvenile golden eagles usually attain full independence in the fall, after which they wander widely until establishing a territory for themselves in four to five years.

Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many areas which are now more heavily populated by humans. Despite being extirpated from or uncommon in some of its former range, the species is still widespread, being present in sizeable stretches of Eurasia, North America, and parts of North Africa. It is the largest and least populous of the five species of true accipitrid to occur as a breeding species in both the Palearctic and the Nearctic.

For centuries, this species has been one of the most highly regarded birds used in falconry. Due to its hunting prowess, the golden eagle is regarded with great mystic reverence in some ancient, tribal cultures. It is one of the most extensively studied species of raptor in the world in some parts of its range, such as the Western United States and the Western Palearctic.

Here is a selection of Golden Eagle poems I found on the internet:

The Golden Eagle by Victor Buhagiar

His majesty the Golden Eagle

symbol of power, freedom.

It scales high up over the lake

and surrounding vegetation.

It glides around at leisurely speed,

its huge eyes scanning carefully

from its azure world as below there’s tasty prey.

Behold on the fragrant magnolias trees,

big and small birds can be seen.

Around the silky dogwood shrubs,

mice scuttle around,

while around the lake,

long fat fish abound,

Occasionally jumping out of the water,

scales shining attracting attention.

The eagle is satisfied,

there’s plenty to feed its young.

I particularly like this Golden Eagle poem by Denis Martindale

The golden eagle, what a sight!
Across the pond, they know!
A wondrous creature when in flight,
Its silhouette aglow!
Just like an arrow cross the sky,
Angelic-like above,
The kind of bird Man questions why
This life seems not enough…

Yet viewed up close, designs are known,
Each eye that sees so far,
Each feather there so that he’s flown
As if from Earth to star!
With claws to help him land as well,
The mountain face to grip,
So that he’s like a miracle
That’s never meant to slip…

The golden eagle still inspires,
He’s known the whole world wide,
A brilliant bird that one admires,
Regarding each with pride…
Prospectors understand gold’s worth,
Romantics comprehend,
Like eagles that have blessed this Earth,
Let’s soar like eagles, friend!

The Golden Eagle by Mumtaz

How majestic is the sight
Of an eagle taking flight.

Ah! The golden eagle soars high
winging around the azure sky.

Insolently , swiftly flew,
Far below  roared the oceans blue.

Perched on the mountains tower,
Braved the storms by his power.

Like an aeroplane he glides
With wide open wings he slides.

Explores from heights with keen eyes,
circling the infinite skies.

There are not many of these old style Jotul 602N Wood-Burning Stove these days although Jotul still manufacture them as an eco stove, the F602. I do see a few of these about with their characteristic crosshatched glass front, but I have only ever seen one with the compass type air control on the front door as in this example. Jotul have been making this stove model for an incredibly long time, with it first going into production in 1940. The customer told me that this particular stove has a long history and was in fact originally in his parents home in Bavaria Germany. He said that he had it shipped all the way from Germany then installed into his own house, where it is still going strong!

Jotul are a Norweigan company and have been making stoves and fireplaces for over 160 years. Jotul are proud of their global status, selling their products in 43 different countries spread over six continents – Truly a global brand!

Jøtul was founded by Oluf Onsum as Kværner Jernstøberi (Kværner Foundry) in the outskirts of Christiania (now Oslo) in 1853. While stoves initially were the main products, the company had diversified by the beginning of the 20th century, when it produced turbines and lumber equipment.

As the heating appliance manufacture decreased in importance, the production was spun off in 1916 and sold to Herman Anker, one of Kværner’s managers. He founded Jøtul AS in 1920 as a sales organization for its products. The sales stagnated during the depression in the 1920s, and 36-year-old Herman Anker died in 1927, leaving it to his successor, 34-year-old Johannes Gahr to modernize and eventually salvage the company. By 1935, the turnaround had succeeded, and the firm acquired its modern name.

By the 1960s, stoves using liquid fuels, especially kerosene had supplanted wood-burning appliances, a trend that was only reversed in the 1970s, partly due to the 1973 oil crisis. Jøtul used this opportunity to gain a strong international foothold and drastically increased its exports to continental Europe and North America.

The Gahr family sold the business to Norcem in 1977, and a period of international expansion began, as Jøtul acquired a number of foundries and importers abroad. This period lasted for approximately ten years, but came to an end during the recession in the late 1980s, when Jøtul once again focussed on the domestic market. However, it has resumed its international diversification in the 21st century, and today its products are sold worldwide.

In March 2018, Jøtul was acquired by the global private equity firm OpenGate Capital. Along with management, OpenGate has crafted a plan to boost performance and eliminate inefficiencies in Jøtul’s operations. In addition, OpenGate Capital is actively searching for add-on targets to further drive Jøtul’s growth. In November 2018, OpenGate and Jøtul completed the add-on acquisition of AICO, an Italian and French based pellet-burning stove leader.

https://www.jotul.co.uk/

I recently completed the HETAS Chimney Sweeps 5 Year Refresher & Technical Update Course and have the certificate to prove it! It was a day long course completed at the H Firkins Training Centre in Milton Keynes and there were 8 other sweeps undertaking the course along with myself. The course was packed with lots of interesting material and updates as a lot has changed in the short time since I undertook the chimney sweeping 5 year refresher training course with the guild. Updates included advice about safe Covid working practices, risk assessments and procedures for customers who are currently shielding. Somethings were just nuggets of information or practicle advise I had not previously heard about.

There were also a number of technical updates, providing useful information on recent changes. These included an update on the new DEFRA rated stoves and their installation, information on what should be done with old redundant back boilers. There was technical information on rear flued appliances and the differing ways they can be completed outside of Approved Document J (Technical bulletins BS EN 15287 & BS 8303). There was in addition a section on documentation that should be carried whilst working including how to complete a Method statement, COSHH Documentation and RIDDOR forms. A very useful and informative days training.

Here is something unusual that I just had to include in my blog, this is a Wamslea 900 Solid Fuel Range that I swept recently in a house in Stocking Green. Unfortunately, it had a rather tricky factory made chimney arrangement with an internal soot collection trap, which made it very awkward to sweep and as it was extremely sooty, difficult to keep the soot out of the room – I managed it though!

Interestingly, the customer told me that it is the only range cooker in production that stays cold to the tough when it is in operation, he said that he specifically bought this range for that reason when his children were very young. No burnt fingers in this house! This said he had to get the stove shipped directly from Bavaria in Germany where these stoves are manufactured as 20 years ago, they were not available in the UK. However, a quick search on the internet reveals that a number of different range models in many different colours are now available on the UK market through a number of dealerships.

I just had to include this photograph of two little helpers giving me all their assistance at an address in Belchamp Otten, I thought it was so amusing, and I hope you do too! This is Teddy and Ellie (their full names being Theodore and Elanor Roosevelt), they are long haired Dachshunds and they are very friendly and inquisitive, as you can see. Their owner tells me that although they live in a house with three women, they actually crave male attention, and if anything, they are a man’s dogs, hence their attention to me! And there’s me thinking it’s my animal magnetism! All said and done they did make both me and Claire laugh and brought smiles to our faces for the rest of the day, even though it was really rainy!

This is in addition a good example of me using a special sweeping tool of German invention, a large Viper. The Viper is essentially rods on a reel with a brush on the end of it. It is ideal for sweeping lined appliances and different size brushes can be used to deal with different diameter liners. It only down fall is that it can only bee used on straight up and down chimneys as the brush can not be turned to negotiate bends. Useful bit of kit none the less.