Chimney sweep in Dorset

Dorset has the most distinctive building history on the round. Blandford Forum burned in 1731 and Wareham in 1762, and both were rebuilt in brick within a generation — which leaves two town centres where the flues are all of an age, all built to the same conventions, and all now approaching three centuries old. Soft mortar and failed internal parging are the recurring findings.

Bournemouth and Poole are a different proposition: large Victorian villas with five or more flues to a stack, extensively converted into flats, and exposed to salt off the harbour. West towards Dorchester and up into the Blackmore Vale, thatch stops being an occasional exception and becomes a routine part of the week — and thatch is the one building type where we would never encourage anyone to stretch the sweeping interval.