Background
In a loop of the River Kent, just south of Kendal in Cumbria, a small two storey stone building housed a water-powered snuff mill operated by Gawith Hoggarth & Co. since 1792. The mill closed shortly after this recording was made, in February 1991, after 199 years operation. This compilation starts with the miller preparing raw leaf to be made into snuff.

All the old equipment is in use: the two ball mills, an eccentric sieve, wooden single-pestle mortars and an iron mixing pot, all driven by an undershot waterwheel.