M.A.D COWLS – HOW IT ALL BEGAN

The Burford family first became involved in the chimney business back in 1935. My grandfather used to supplement his income as a coal miner by sweeping chimneys in the South Wales coal valleys. My father began assisting him in his enterprise in approximately 1958 as an assistant sweep. I believe the charge was about “five bob” per house with my father being paid a “tanner”. Being small in stature, he often went into, or part way up, a chimney to sort out a blockage or retrieve a loose brush.

During the 1980’s the family began to design chimney cowls calling upon their experience as chimney sweeps, thus having knowledge of the sweep’s needs. Many years previous to this, they would often adapt a large square metal biscuit tin or large round metal Christmas cake tin to act as a chimney cowl.

From mid eighties to approximately 2004 we manufactured many cowls for a range of different chimney cowl manufacturers via our family owned business called Aman Metal Spinners. I took over the family business in 2005 and thought that the prices being charged to the trade at the time, were far too much.

All designs and materials conform to the relevant certificates required. Our factory is twenty five miles north of Cardiff and we have always manufactured there, thus, we are proud to advertise our products as “Made in Britain”. We manufacture “in house” thus enabling us to offer quality, service, design and flexibility directly to our customers at reasonable prices. We are already working on a future product range for the 2007/2008 season.

If you have any specific requirements you need for your own use, then we are the people to assist.