Help with inventory please

[slam]

I am hammering the OED at the moment.  Yes, it does look more like 'garn' than 'farn' and OED does quote a Northern dialect word 'garn' :

1695 KENNETT  Par. Antiq. Gloss. s.v. 'Draw-gere, Yarn, still in the North call'd Garn; wooll workt into a thread.'

But would you have 'one Yarn'?  Unless it means a reel of it.  Again, why keep it in the cellar?

And someone more knowledgeable about farming practices than I am sent a message about the mysterious 'hayver'  At first he went for 'oats' like you, Roger, citing the usage in words like 'haversack'.  Then he thought oats growing in December were a bit unlikely so suggested 'heaf' instead, which means 'sheep pasture'.  I OEDed it at once and blow me, all the citations for it are bang in the right geographic area - elsewhere in the country the same thing was called 'haft'. 

'HEAF:
Accustomed pasture-ground (of sheep).
c1525 Survey St. Bees Priory in Monast. Angl. (1821) III. 579/1 A pasture for shepe upon the morez or hefe called Sandwith Marshe.' (OED)

Bearing in mind the 'ea' spelling in Tudor times usually indicates an 'ay' sound rather than an 'ee', I think this sounds likely, what do you think?

I had another look at 'bogge' and the second letter does look more like an 'e' than an 'o', but I can't find a word that sounds like 'beg' but means something appropriate.

[JenB]

I had another look at 'bogge' and the second letter does look more like an 'e' than an 'o', but I can't find a word that sounds like 'beg' but means something appropriate.

Had you considered my suggestion of 'fogge' (reply 5) ?  Many years ago ago I transcribed a substantial number of Upper Teesdale inventories, and this term cropped up repeatedly.

here is a description from the Penny Cyclopedia

[slam]

And about that cellar...OED says the words 'sollar' and 'cellar' were sometimes confused in texts, which must have been baffling all round as the cellar was the cellar but the sollar was the loft.

"Sollar:

1. a. An upper room or apartment in a house or other dwelling; in later use esp. a loft, attic, or garret (sometimes used as a granary or store-room). Now arch. or dial. exc. Hist.
  Originally one open to the sun or receiving much sunlight. In OE. only transf. and fig. The confusion with cellar which appears in quot. 13.. is found occasionally in other texts down to the 16th cent." (OED)

[slam]

Sorry JenB, my head is still swimming with hayvers and garns and sellars/sollars.  If I quote the OED any more they may start charging me.

'Fogge' makes better sense than 'bogge' and especially so since you've met the word frequently in this area. Still,  in comparison with the 'f' of 'forsaid' above, the initial letter does look more like a 'b' than an 'f'.   Though of course it's always possible that like myself the scribe may have been prone to the odd senior moment.

[BridgetM]

Fogg does make sense in context; bogg doesn't really . . .

I think it might be cellar, but only because a loft is mentioned later in the will.

I like heaf for sheep pasture.  I also like hayver for oats.  (But I know absolutely nothing about farming!)

Does anyone have any ideas about the Rc before the names of the men who took the inventory?

I really appreciate everyone's help!
Bridget

[slam]

'Rc' - I was guessing Richard.

[JenB]

'Fogge' makes better sense than 'bogge' and especially so since you've met the word frequently in this area. Still,  in comparison with the 'f' of 'forsaid' above, the initial letter does look more like a 'b' than an 'f'.   

It certainly looks more like a 'b' than an 'f', but I think in the context fogge makes sense.

[slam]

My farming correspondent has just messaged to say he thinks JenB is 'spot on' with fog and advised me to google 'Yorkshire fog', which takes you to a page explaining everything: 

"Yorkshire fog is a tufted, perennial grass, native on rough grassland, lawns, arable land, waste ground and in open woods. It is generally distributed in the UK and often abundant. It occurs over a wide range of soil types being found in fen-meadow communities, poorly-drained and water-logged soils, low fertility and nutrient rich soils..."

This forum is like doing an Open University course!

[JenB]

And about that cellar...OED says the words 'sollar' and 'cellar' were sometimes confused in texts, which must have been baffling all round as the cellar was the cellar but the sollar was the loft.

THis word appears again in Bridget's new thread http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,476470.msg3357283.html#msg3357283

The more I look at it the more I agree that the word isn't cellar but 'sollare' i.e. an upper room in the house.