Re: Hagg Hill (Liverton/Moorholm - Yorks North ... | Forum

fitzcoraldo Aug 28, 2005 21:39:16

Replying to jobbo

Howdo Barry
Sorry to disappoint you fella but Hagg means a scrubby type land e.g covered in gorse, I think it comes from the old Danish. There's quite a few Haggs type places up on our moors. The adder is also known as the hagg worm in north yorks which coincidentally is also the same in Norway.
Gerrick Moor is a crackin place with tons of earthworks, unfortunately it was knocked about a bit by the army charging tanks over it in WWII.
If you drop me a line at fitzcoraldo at hotmail dot com I'll send you some ideas I've been putting together regarding the goddess on the moors
cheers
fitz

Machine Aug 28, 2005 21:44:53

Replying to fitzcoraldo

Hey Fitz, don't suppose i could e-mail you for a copy to? The 'goddess' of the moors is a topic of no small amount of interest to me and I'd be curious to see if our ideas tally at all...

jobbo Aug 29, 2005 00:57:22

Replying to fitzcoraldo

Thanks for the info there guys - and fitz I'll certainly drop you an e-mail!

Hagg worm eh? Nearly stood on one today as it happens - gave me the fright of my life!

The Captain Aug 30, 2005 16:20:42

Replying to fitzcoraldo

Guys, maybe you're being a little too quick to judge here?

Even if you're correct and Hagg only means "a scrubby type land e.g covered in gorse" it's still interesting to consider how or why we use 'Hagg' to describe an infertile barren female/piece of earth that lies beyond the civilised/farmed. It's connotations feed back into Cope's idea of the sacred female being ostrasized or made 'of the heath' by an in-coming patriarchal religion. The act of naming being the prize given to those in charge.

Hagg Hill (Liverton/Moorholm — Yorks North Riding)