Christmas Eve I had the chimney swept and the guy used a series of rods with a flexible drive in them and a kind of leather flail on the end. He powered it from a hand held battery driven drill with a special chuck attachment.

It worked a treat.

Does anyone know where these things can be got?

 

 

Disappointed was sure this was going to be some kind of Father Christmas gag!!!!

Our chimney is about 10 feet by 3 feet just above the false ceiling in the inglenook, so I had a few amusing moments thinking about how I could adapt Peter's idea. I didn't even bother to set the Santa Trap this year, having fitted a rain-hood above the chimney a few months ago.