Kendal and the Lakes

A number of Gawith’s iconic blends are named after local areas and many of Gawith’s products are called ‘Kendal’ tobaccos. Our Roll Your Own range is called ‘Auld Kendal’, derived from the fond term for the town as the ‘Auld Grey Town’ due to the grey limescale buildings (and more recently the weather!). 

Westmorland

The old county in North West England that included parts of the Lake District. It had an administrative function from the 12th century all the way through until 1974, when it was combined with the adjacent country of Cumberland to form Cumbria. In 2021 Westmorland was re-established as part of Westmorland and Furness. The name Westmorland is derived from Westmerieland, used in the twelfth century, meaning land of the western meres or lakes. 

Westmorland Slices takes it name from county name. 

Kendal

Kendal is a historic market town, formerly known as Kirkby in Kendal which translated to mean village with a church in the valley of the River Kent. 

Kendal is formed round a main high street with alleyways, known locally as yards, off to either side. Kendal is now known as being the gateway to the Lake District but the main industry centuries ago was the manufacture of woollen goods and also leather, tanning and shoes. The town’s motto is Pannus mihi panis (Cloth is my bread) and "Kendal Green" was a hard-wearing, wool-based fabric exported around the world. 

Kendal is also known for Kendal Mintcake, a glucose based confectionary famous for being taken up Mount Everest and of course for tobacco and snuff. 

By the 18th century Kendal had become the major snuff manufacturing centre in Britain. Tobacco from North America was brought in to ports close to Kendal, but due to the pack horse trains having to traverse over the rough ground and fells, much of the tobacco leaf would be broken up to dust and stalks by the time it reached Kendal. Local traders could then buy this tobacco at nominal rates for snuff production at one of the water driven mills in the area. ​

In 1790 Thomas Harrison from Kendal, grandfather of Samuel Gawith the first, travelled to Scotland to learn how to make snuff and a couple of years later arrived back in Kendal with the famed ‘Kendal Brown’ recipe and equipment and knowledge to make snuff. This was the start of the Gawith snuff and tobacco enterprise and what would evolve into Samuel Gawith, Gawith Hoggarth & Co and Illingsworth snuff and tobacco companies, all operating in the small north English town of Kendal. Now of course there is just Gawith Hoggarth & Co remaining. 

Ennerdale

Lying on the north western edge of the Lake District, the Ennerdale valley is fairly remote and there is no public road through the valley. It has one of the longest running re-wilding projects in the UK. Settlers have been in the area since pre-historic times but it was in the 12th Century that Norse settlers arrived here and during medieval times, there was mining for iron ore.

Foresty in the 1920’s destroyed the tradition of Herdwick sheep farming in the valley, but some remains. The area is now famous for its hiking trails, Ennerdale Water and rock climbing. Pillar Rock was thought unclimbable, until a local shepherd scaled it in 1824 and now it’s a mecca for climbers from all over the world. 

One of Gawith’s most popular flakes is named after this valley. 

Grasmere

Grasmere is a village in the centre of the Lake District, named after the lake there. Best known as the home of renowned poet William Wordsworth; it is a place he once described as "the most loveliest spot that man hath found”. Now equally famous for its gingerbread, it is a tourist hot spot and favourite walking destination. 

Another of our iconic blends is named after this village and lake. 

Coniston

Coniston Village sits at the northern end of Coniston Water in the southern part of the Lake District and is dominated by the Old Man of Coniston which tours above. The village name derives from the Old Norse word for king and the old English word for farmstad or village, giving the literal meaning of King’s Estate. Coniston is famous for its copper and slate mines as well as its association with the poet John Ruskin and the World Water Speed Record holder, Donald Campbell who broke 4 world records on the lake in the 1950’s but died attempting another record in 1967 when his jet boat, the BlueBird crashed at 290 mph. 

Our Coniston Cut Plug is named after this village and lake.