Hagman Heigh

Clarkson’s History of Richmond, quoted in the Table Book, described the Hagman Heigh, kept in Yorkshire on New Year’s Eve. The keeper of the pinfold went round the town with a rabble at his heels, knocking at certain doors and singing a rough song that claimed their right as in old King Henry’s day, with the chorus Sing, fellows, sing, Hagman Heigh, and ending with a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Clarkson guessed the hagman was the woodcutter, calling on the customers whose Christmas ovens he had fuelled, since hag meant a wood in Yorkshire. Chambers added that children in Yorkshire and the north of England went from house to house singing the Hagmena chorus for a dole of bread or cakes.