Showerthought: I saw a chimney in a museum exhibit on Victorian London

I was at the Natural History Museum in London last month and they had a whole room set up like an old street. Right there, in a display about child labor, was a tiny chimney flue, maybe 10 inches wide, with a dummy kid stuck halfway up. The info card said sweeps' boys as young as four did that. It was wild to see our trade's history, the bad parts, laid out like that. Makes you appreciate modern gear and regs, you know? Has anyone else stumbled on chimney sweep stuff in a weird place?

2 comments

2 Comments

thea1431mo ago

Ever see those old soot stained bricks in a house and wonder about the guy who put them there? My friend bought a place with a sealed up fireplace, and when they opened the wall they found a clay pipe covered in tiny handprints. Not kids playing, but like, actual work smudges from small fingers. It gave me the same weird feeling, like history just sitting in your drywall.

shane_rivera1mo ago

Oh wow, we found old marbles under our floorboards and got that same chill.