Pot Pecking Order

You thought that because it was a new year that I would be starting to get over my fixation with certain inanimate objects, didn’t you? You thought that my focus would shift to living things like birds and trees and puppy dogs, did you not?

Well, I like photographing those things too but I still love my inanimate objects. And, of course, the most beloved object of all is (drumroll) the CHIMNEY POT.

Did you know there is a chimney pot hierarchy? I didn’t.

I was speaking to my neighbour, June, the other day, who has lived in the area for over fifty years and she told me that the more chimney pots you had back in the day, the greater the status symbol. A chimney pot meant you had a working fire place which meant that not only could you afford to keep your fireplace in order, you could afford the fuel to run it.

So I set about to see if there was any evidence that this chimney pot pecking order might be true. Now, of course there are exceptions, but generally I found that the lowlier single storey semi-detached houses in the area had one chimney pot; while the grander two or three storey detached terraces had umpteen chimney pots. Now there are more rooms to heat in the bigger houses so it stands to reason that there would be more chimney pots, but maybe the size of the house wasn’t taken into account when it came to chimney pot hierarchy, maybe it was all about the pots. Imagine ladies back in the day gazing up at their three or four chimney pots thinking: In your face single chimney pot people. In your face.

In spite of the pecking order I still think one pot has its appeal –

And there is nothing like a smoking single pot. It conjures up images of hot cocoa, sweet woodsmoke and toasty toes.

Dual pots also have their charm – there is a sense of continuity when you look at them, a completeness –

And if you have three or more you’ve just hit the jackpot –

But it doesn’t end there. You might want to brace yourselves because I have found the piece de resistance of chimney pots, the Donald Trump of chimney pots. Feast your eyes on this baby –

Some people have got it made.

However, regardless of whether there be one or two or ten, I still love my chimney pots. A quaint reminder of days gone by.