LONDON — One person placed a bra atop a flagpole. By the end of the day, boxers, socks and shirts were draped outside homes and shops, and even strung across a street.

An effort to shame a woman into not hanging her laundry outside her home in southwestern England backfired spectacularly on Wednesday when neighbors and business people came to her defense and draped their clothes outside for everyone to see.

“Street and after street, it was like some sort of military operation,” said Paul Arnott, who took part in the laundry revolt.

The episode began last week when the woman, Claire Mountjoy, received an unsigned letter in her mailbox in Colyton. The letter claimed to speak “on behalf of local businesses and the neighborhood,” before asking “with kindness” that she use a dryer or hang her wash indoors.