How to ladder a chimney!

[Gasmantle]

Fred Dibnah was a steeplejack who lived and worked in Bolton (near Manchester UK), at the time of the industrial revolution there were literally thousands of mill chimneys scattered around northern England. 

Very few chimneys had fixed ladders, here Fred demonstrates how to ladder a chimney prior to repair work.

Enjoy 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2021 by Gasmantle

[WI_Hedgehog]

Too bad parts 3 & 4 were removed....gives me quivers right down my spine

....which isn't saying much for a hedgehog I suppose...

 

[Gasmantle]

Yea, he was an interesting guy.

As he once said - 'get this wrong and it's half a day with the undertaker' 

[mike_bike_kite]

I'd heard people speak about this guy but never saw him on TV. I might look some of his stuff up as that was actually quite interesting. I loved his comment "As you get a bit higher up the holes get a bit deeper ... it's called fear" - LOL

My first job was doing guttering and roofs. Most of the time the work was at ordinary roof height but I did once do some work on a church steeple and I'll admit that was a bit worrying. Recently I had this photo taken off me when I was trying to remove a large swarm of trees from near the top of an old tree. I'd never done it before and the ladder wasn't quite long enough which made everything quite exciting. It was no where near as high as Fred but the comedy value of it all going wrong was much better.

[Gasmantle]

@mike_bike_kitehe became popular in the 80's after a few TV documentaries about his life and work, he eventually had his own TV programme.

After seeing how he ladders a chimney you might find this interesting - he shows how to climb an overhang, I'd love to know how he managed to fasten the ladders in place 

 

Edited February 17, 2021 by Gasmantle