TakeOne...chimneybrush

AboutBrentMuseumandBrentArchivesBrentArchivesandBrentMuseumholdcollectionsrelatedtotheareanowknownastheLondonBoroughofBrentanditsresidents.BrentMuseum isfree. Themaingallery ispackedwithinteractiveactivitiesandexhibits revealing the fascinatingstoriesbehindBrent'ssocialhistory.Ourcollectionsreflectworkinganddomestic life inBrent fromabout1850tothepresentday.Wealsohaveaspecialexhibitiongallerywithanexcitingprogrammeofvisitingexhibitions. ThemuseumhasaCommunityGalleryonthegroundfloorwhereyoucanseethelatestexhibitionaboutthedifferentculturesandcommunitiesthatliveinBrent.BrentArchivescanhelpyoufindoutmoreaboutthelocalareaanditshistory.WeholdtherecordsofBrentCouncilanditspredecessors,includingcouncilminutesandbuildingplans,aswellashistoricalmapsandstreetdirectories,electoral registers, school records,andanextensivecollectionofoldphotographsandpostcards.Our localhistorycollections include a large reference collection, and local newspapers dating back to 1870. We also collect therecordsoflocalgroupsandorganisations.

museum@brent.gov.uk

archives@brent.gov.uk

Backgroundinformation

Childrenaschimneysweeps

Chimneyswereoftenbuiltsothatasinglechimneywasusedforseveralfireplaces.Thiswouldmeanthatfireplaceswerelocatedinthesamepositiononeachfloor.Severalchimneysmightalsousethesamestack,sothechimneys

hadtoangleandbendtoreachthesinglestack.Thechimneysindomesticpropertieswerenotverywideandwouldbefartoonarrowforanadulttoclimbup.

MenknownasMasterSweepswouldoftentakeonapprentices

toworkaschimneysweeps,someofwhomwouldhavecomefrom workhouses. Hendon Union workhouse was the mainworkhouse in the Brent area. Hendon Poor Law Union had

been established in the 1830s and covered the followingparishes: Edgware, Harrow‐on‐the‐Hill, Hendon, Kingsbury,Pinner,GreatStanmore,LittleStanmore,andWillesden.Inthe

1890s it was decided that Willesden parish required aworkhouseof itsown,soonewasbuiltontheTwyfordAbbeyEstateonActonLane. Thatbuildingwasstillstandinguntil its

demolition as part of the Central Middlesex Hospitalredevelopment in the 1990s – 2000s.

Childreninworkhouseswereoftenseparatedfromtheirparentsanddidnothaveachoicewhenbeingapprenticedto amaster sweep. Chimney sweeping could be dangerouswork and some childrendied through suffocationorburning to death. Reforms during the 1800s led to the end of childrenworking as sweeps. This included directlegislationtoregulatetheworkofsweepingand legislationthat impactedchildren’swork,suchaschangestotheeducationsystem.TheChimneySweepersAct1834statedthatmastersweepscouldnottakeonchildrenunder14;beforethischildrenasyoungas6wereworkingassweeps.AfurtherActin1840madeitillegalforanyoneundertheageof21tosweepchimneys,but itwas largely ignored. Itwasn’tuntil theChimneySweepersRegulationAct1864thatpolicehadthepowertoarrest,fineorimprisonmastersweepswhofloutedthelaw.Howeverunderagesweeps were in use into the 1870s and the last child reported to die in a chimney was 1875.Inthelate1800sitbecamecompulsoryforchildrentoattendschoolfromage5to10.Therewere,however,exemptionssuchasforchildrenlivingexcessivedistance fromschools, for illnessorwithcertificationofhavingreached an approved standard. This meant many children still did notattend school. This period also saw the beginnings of state fundededucation.

Thehousingboomandfireplaces

Duringthelate1800stherewasahousingboomastherailwayextendedinto what we now know as Brent, which meant that there were manymore chimneys that would require sweeping. This advert from 1907suggests that the situationwas viewed as a concern.Or at least for thepurposes of advertising a chimney sweeping service. This concern overensuring regular chimney sweepingwas not entirely self‐serving as sootwasflammableandcouldleadtoabuildingcatchingfire.

Fireplaces were prominent in Victorian houses. In wealthy houses theyhadanaestheticaswellas functional role,anddecorative ironworkandtiles were commonplace. Many of the tiles that we think of astraditionally Victorian actually take their inspiration from Islamic art.Thesehighlypatternedtileswereoftenencaustic,whichmeansthatthecolourisintheclayratherthanasaglazeapplied to the tile. This process means that the pattern will remain for longer as the tile wears down.

HendonUnionWorkhouse,Cataloguereference:2293

Newspaperadvert,WillesdenChronicle,12thJanuary1906,Cataloguereference:3942

TheobjectThechimneysweeprodappears tobemadeofcanepieceswithmetalscrewsfixedtoeachendto allow the brush to be extended to differentlengths.The8individualrodsareroughly90cm(3feet)butarenotexactlythesamelength,noraretheyentirelystraight. Therodsarebowed,which may have been what they originallylooked like, as they are made from organicmaterial.Orthiscouldbeaneffectoftimeandstorage. Some of the canes look more usedthan others as they have scratches and marksand the rods vary in colour, due to dirt. Theyare dirty to touch, transferring a black residueontohands,whichislikelysoot.Oneoftherodshas had a length of metal wire, 2mm indiameter, wrapped around it and extended tocreateahook.Thismayhavebeenusedforretrievingitemsthatwerestuckinthechimney(suchasbirdsordebris)orperhaps itwasusedaspartofthecleaningprocess. Thewire looksas if itoncehadacoatingwhichhaswornawayovertimeandithasrusted,leavinganorangeresidueononeofthescrews.

The chimney sweeping rods and brush can beassembled to reach a length of 720cm(approximately 23 feet), which would allow it toclean a chimney in a 2‐storey house. However itcould only be used to clean a relatively straightchimney. The rigid rods would not be able tonavigate bends or angles. This type of brush mayhavebeenusedfromtheroof,brushingdownwardstoremovesoot.Childrenwhoclimbedupchimneys

wouldbemorelikelytousehandheldbrushesandscraperstoremovesoot,ortheymayhaveusedalargerbrushpushed up with their head as they climbed. It is, therefore, more likely that this brush was used by an adult(althoughitispossiblethatachilduseditinthesamemannerthatissuggestedforanadult).

The brush head is a solid, woodenrounded cylinder, which has 27 holesfor the bristles. Bunches of bristleshave been fixed in place with a blackadhesive. Where the black adhesivehasbeenchippedit isshiny. Onesideof the bristles has been significantlydamaged; it is not known if thisdamage was sustained in use as achimneysweeporinthetimebetweenuse and accession into the museum’scollection.Thebristlesareverybrittleand some are loose. The bristlesappeartobemadeoforganicmaterial.We do not know the age of thechimneybushand rods. Theobject isnot dated and the design of suchbrushesremainedthesameformanyyears.Thereisverylittleinformationaboutitinthemuseum’srecords.

AboutTakeOneInspiredbytheNationalGallery’sTakeOnePictureprogramme,TakeOne…aimstoInspireteacherstousehistoricbuildings,objects,andarchivedocumentstodevelopcreativecross‐curricularworkintheclassroom.

Youcouldusethereproductionofthedocumentintheclassroomtoinitiateadialoguewithyourstudentsandaskthem...

WhatwouldithavebeenliketoliveinBrentortheChannelIslandsduringtheSecondWorldWar?

HowhascommunicationchangedsincetheSecondWorldWar?Dowestillusetelegrams?Whatdowehavenowinstead?Letters,Telegrams,Telephone,Email,TextMessages,IMing,Facebook,twitter

Whatimpactdoeswarhaveoncommunicationandtravel?Howeasyisitnowtocommunicatewithpeopleinwarzones?

Whatdoletterslooklike?Isthereastandardformat?Arethereotherexamplesoflettersthatyoucouldlookat?

Howdowetakecareofthosewithgreaterneedthanourown?Whoneedsoursupportandcare?Thinkaboutmodernwaysofraisingawarenessandsupportingotherssuchascharitysingles,textingdonationsetc.

ThelettermentionstheroleofcountriesintheBritishCommonwealth.Whofoughtinthewar?Whichcountriescontributedtothewareffort?Whatmighttheirexperienceofwarhavebeenlike?

Youcouldusethereproductionofthebrushtostimulategroupdiscussions.Forexample:

WhatwouldithavebeenliketoliveinBrentduringtheVictorianperiod?

WhatwoulditbelikenowifeveryhouseinBrentwasstillburningcoal?Whatimpactwouldithaveontheairandtheenvironment?

Whatwoulditbeliketohavetoworkasachild?Imaginethesortsofjobsyoumightdo?Wouldtherebeanybenefits?

Whatwoulditbelikewhenschoolwasn’tcompulsory?Woulditbeagoodthing?Howwouldyoulearn?

Whatwoulditbeliketospendtimeinaworkhouse?Whatmighttheconditionshavebeenlike?Howwouldyoufeel?

Workhouseswereseenasawayofdealingwithpoverty.Whatsystemsdoweusenow?Whataretheprosandconsofeachsystem?

Whatimpacthavedevelopmentsinscienceandtechnologyhadonpeoples’lives?Whatarethebenefitsandwhatarethedisadvantages?

Ideasforcreativeplanningacrossthecurriculum:

Explorehowworkhousesandchimneysweepsaredepictedinliterature(Forexample,CharlesKingsley’sTheWaterbabies,severalCharlesDickens’novels,includingOliverTwistandBleakHouse,WilliamBlake’spoemsinSongsofInnocenceandSongsofExperience,orMaryPoppins;thePLTraversnovel&theDisneyadaptation).Writeafilmorbookreview,payingparticularattentiontothedepictionofworkhousesandchimneysweeps.History/Literacy/Drama

Investigatethescienceofheat(convection,radiation,insulation).Designaheatingsystemforahouse.Design&Technology/Science

InvestigateyourlocalareaforsignsofVictorianbuildingsandchimneys.CreateastreetmapofyourareawithVictorianbuildingsmarkedonit.Geography/History

Designacampaignforendingtheemploymentofchildrenaschimneysweeps.Designaposter,writeaspeechandcreateamanifesto.Workouthowtomakeyourcampaignsuccessful:Whowouldyoucontact?Howwouldpeopleknowaboutyourcampaign?HowhascampaigningchangedsincetheVictorianperiod?Citizenship/History/ICT

Investigatehowlawsarepassed.Whowriteslaws?Whatstagesdotheyhavetogothrough?History/Citizenship

Createasoundscapeforachimneysweep.Whatsoundscouldyouhear(brushsweeping,windinthechimney,crackleoffireetc)?Music

TakeOne...chimneybrush

TakeOne...chimneybrush

TakeOne...chimneybrush

TakeOne...chimneybrush

TakeOne...chimneybrush