I found this video on the ‘Pipe Smokers Den’ forum. Well worth a visit.
The water wheel and corresponding machinery, powered by the River Kent, was originally constructed for polishing the limestone of Kendal Fell, a hard and variegated material with fossilised shells. Gawith Hoggarth & Co acquired the lease in 1887 when they installed the snuff-making plant removed from Natland Beck Mill.
The mill depicted here was operational from that time until the last miller, Alan Powley, seen here retired in March 1991.
If anyone has any questions regarding the mill, such as the use of ball-bearings, then I’ll attempt to answer as best I can.
Lastly, snuff made this way has a flavour unique to that particular mill and can’t be made elsewhere even if an exact formula is available. That’s why Mark Chaytor in his book ‘The Wilsons of Sharrow’ confidently asserts that Sharrow snuff can’t be duplicated outside Sharrow as the ancient machinery itself lends a unique taste to the finished product. The once hugely popular SS snuff was the last snuff still made on the original Sharrow mill. Modern atomising mills, while cheaper and easier to run and don’t require the expertise of a miller, lose that unique flavour that comes with making snuff in the traditional way.