British Popular Customs, Present and Past. T. F. Thiselton-Dyer

it, however, that is found in the documents of the corporation is in 1632, when its amount was 14l. 9s. 4d. The amount increased gradually till 1799, when it was 60l., and until the time of its cessation in 1825, it remained yearly about the same.

      There are many traditions respecting the origin of this dole, but they all concur in attributing it to one Thomas Moseley, from whom an estate at Bascott in Warwickshire was derived. The donor, in granting this estate to the Corporation, charged it with the annual payment of nine marks to the Abbot of Hales Owen, “who should keep one mark for his labours in distributing the remaining eight marks, at the obit of the said Thomas Moseley at Walsall, for the souls of the said Thomas and Margary his wife, and others; and this by the oversight of the Vicar of Walsall, and of all the chaplains of the Guild of St. John the Baptist, of the church of Walsall.”

      The eight marks above named were no doubt the origin of the dole, and would, before the Reformation, be amply sufficient to supply a penny a piece to all the parishioners, or at least to all who repaired to the church on the obit day, to pray for the donor and his wife—a superstitious custom which caused the estate to be seized by Henry VIII., when he suppressed the monasteries.—History of Staffordshire, White, 1857, p. 645; Old English Customs and Charities, 1842, p. 55.

Sussex.

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      At Hastings, apples, nuts, oranges, &c., as well as money, are thrown out of the windows to be scrambled for by the fisher-boys and men. The custom is not kept up with the spirit of former days.

Warwickshire.

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      In the city of Coventry a sort of cake known by the name of God-cakes is sent. They are used by all classes, and vary in price from a halfpenny to one pound. They are invariably made in a triangular shape, an inch thick, and filled with a kind of mincemeat. So general is the use of them on the first day of the New Year, that the cheaper sorts are hawked about the streets as hot cross buns are on Good Friday in London. This custom seems peculiar to Coventry.—N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. ii. p. 229.

Worcestershire.

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      A belief exists in this county, that if the carol singer who first comes to the door on New Year’s morning be admitted at the front door, conducted through the house, and let out at the back the inmates will have good luck during the year.—N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. iii. p. 313.

Yorkshire.

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      The following quaint account of a whimsical custom formerly observed on New Year’s Day is taken from Blount’s Fragmenta Antiquitatis, 1815, p. 555:

      Near Hutton Conyers there is a large common, called Hutton Conyers Moor, whereof William Aislabie, Esq., of Studley Royal (lord of the Manor of Hutton Conyers), is lord of the soil, and on which there is a large coney-warren belonging to the lord. The occupiers of messuages and cottages within the several towns of Hutton Conyers, Baldersby, Rainton, Dishforth, and Hewick, have right of estray for their sheep to certain limited boundaries on the common, and each township has a shepherd.

      The lord’s shepherd has a pre-eminence of tending his sheep on every part of the common; and wherever he herds the lord’s sheep, the several other shepherds are to give way to him, and give up their hoofing-place so long as he pleases to depasture the lord’s sheep thereon. The lord holds his court the first day in the year, to entitle those several townships to such right of estray; the shepherd of each township attends the court, and does fealty, by bringing to the court a large apple-pie, and a twopenny sweetcake (except the shepherd of Hewick, who compounds by paying sixteen-pence for all, which is drunk as after mentioned,) and a wooden spoon; each pie is cut in two, and divided by the bailiff, one half between the steward, bailiff, and the tenant of the coney-warren before mentioned, and the other half into six parts, and divided amongst the six shepherds of the above mentioned six townships. In the pie brought by the shepherd of Rainton an inner one is made, filled with prunes. The cakes are divided in the same manner. The bailiff of the manor provides furmenty and mustard, and delivers to each shepherd a slice of cheese and a penny roll. The furmenty, well mixed with mustard, is put into an earthen pot, and placed in a hole in the ground, in a garth belonging to the bailiff’s house; to which place the steward of the court, with the bailiff, tenant of the warren, and six shepherds, adjourn with their respective wooden spoons. The bailiff provides spoons for the stewards, the tenant of the warren, and himself. The steward first pays respect to the furmenty, by taking a large spoonful; the bailiff has the next honour, the tenant of the warren next, then the shepherd of Hutton Conyers, and afterwards the other shepherds by regular turns; then each person is served with a glass of ale (paid for by the sixteen-pence brought by the Hewick shepherd), and the health of the lord of the manor is drank; then they adjourn back to the bailiff’s house, and the further business of the court is proceeded with.

      Each pie contains about a peck of flour, is about sixteen or eighteen inches diameter, and as large as will go into the mouth of an ordinary oven. The bailiff of the manor measures them with a rule, and takes the diameter; and if they are not of a sufficient capacity, he threatens to return them, and fine the town. If they are large enough, he divides them with a rule and compasses into four equal parts; of which the steward claims one, the warrener another, and the remainder is divided amongst the shepherds. In respect to the furmenty, the top of the dish in which it is put is placed level with the surface of the ground; all persons present are entitled to eat of it, and those who do not, are not deemed loyal to the lord. Every shepherd is obliged to eat of it, and for that purpose is to take a spoon in his pocket to the court; for if any of them neglect to carry a spoon with him he is to lay him down upon his belly, and sup the furmenty, with his face to the pot or dish; at which time it is usual, by way of sport, for some of the bystanders to dip his face into the furmenty; and sometimes a shepherd, for the sake of diversion, will purposely leave his spoon at home.

      In the North Riding of Yorkshire, those who have not the common materials for making a fire, generally sit without one on New Year’s Day; for none of their neighbours, although hospitable at other times, will suffer them to light a candle at their fires. If they do, it is believed that one of the family will die within the year.—Gent. Mag. 1811, vol. lxxxi. p. 424.

Subjoined is all that appears to have survived of the Yorkshire Hagmena song:[2]

      “To-night it is the New Year’s night, to-morrow is the day,

       And we are come for our right and for our ray,

       As we used to do in old King Henry’s day

       Sing fellows, sing, hag man, ha!

      If you go to the bacon-flick, cut me a good bit;

       Cut, cut, and low, beware of your maw;

       Cut, cut, and round, beware of your thumb,

       That me and my merry men may have some.

       Sing fellows, sing, hag-man, ha!

      If you go to the black ark, bring me ten marks;

       Ten marks, ten pound, throw it down upon the ground,

       That me and my merry men may have some.

       Sing fellows, sing, hag-man, ha!”

      Brand’s Pop. Antiq. 1870, vol. i. p. 11.