What is a Chimney Sweep?

A person who professionally cleans chimneys is called a chimney sweep. Chimney sweeps have been in business since the industrial revolution and over time have been needed less because of different methods of heating homes and businesses, but the profession is still useful as even modern chimneys used in conjunction with modern heating methods need cleaning.

In the industrial era and through victorian times chimney sweeps tended to be persons that were small, thin or children so that the chimneys, which were considerably larger in those times, could be cleaned from the inside. As tiem moved on and chimneys grew smaller in circumfrence, new methods using collapsable brushes were invented for the chimneysweep to properly clean a chimney without actually having to climb in.