LEWES CHIMNEY SWEEP

How does a Lewes chimney sweep like to celebrate Bonfire Night? At the famous Lewes Bonfire celebrations of course. At the centre of Sussex you’ll find the celebrated county town of Lewes – an enchanting place with a rich history. Lewes keeps its history alive through its unmodernised high street and it even has its own currency, the Lewes Pound, still valid in Lewes today.

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Lewes’ narrow streets, old English churches and many twittens (a Sussex word for alleyway) give a sense of the town’s past. Surrounded by white chalk cliffs, the remains of a Norman castle, which would have provided much work for a chimney sweep in Lewes, is a prominent feature and the town is also home to Anne of Cleves 15th century timber framed Wealden hall. The house was given to Anne as part of her divorce settlement from Henry VIII.

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Undoubtedly, the town's most important annual event is the Lewes Bonfire celebrations on 5th November, Guy Fawkes’ Night. It’s known locally simply as ‘Bonfire’ and while it may seem strange for a Lewis chimney sweep to celebrate a fire without a chimney, the event not only marks the date of the 1605 exposure of the Gunpowder Plot, but also honours the memory of the seventeen Protestant martyrs brutally burnt at the stake during the Marian Persecutions. The celebrations, which controversially involve burning an effigies of vilified historical and political figures and celebrities, are the biggest and most notorious bonfire night festivities in the country.

In and around Lewes, in the picturesque villages of the Ouse Valley, there are many charming thatched roofs. If you’re fortunate enough to live in one of these lovely chocolate box cottages and use the chimney, it is important to engage a Chimney sweep in Lewis to sweep the chimney twice a year or quarterly if you are burning wood.