In an Irish country cookbook, it says a jam was "homemade from the raspberries picked at the top of the haggard."
Dictionaries I consulted were no help in providing a definition that seemed helpful. Anybody Irish who knows that haggard might mean in this context?
Collins English Dictionary describes Haggard as follows - "Haggard – (in Ireland and the Isle of Man) – an enclosure beside a farmhouse in which crops are stored. Related to old Norse Heygarthr, from hey hay + garthr yard." [4] Many believe that this word may have a Scandanavian or Norse origin.
Also:
'Hay in the Haggard' - The Haggard was the small field where wheat, oats and barley were stacked and where the threshing took place. The Haggard was the centre of farm life activity in the autumn. This photo shows two men working in a haggard in the Ardcath area with a horse and cart and with hay ricks in the background (courtesy of Frances Lee Gargan from 'The Parish of Ardcath Clonalvy: A History', 2012, original photo from James McGrath)
http://meathfieldnames.com/images/253%20-%20McGraths_1952549.jpg
So, it would be my guess that the soil around a haggard would be very rich from all the composted grains & straw at the bottom of the stacks that were not used. Berries grown on the edges of that were probably superior in size & flavor.
Thanks all. In context, those make perfect sense. I once knew a family whose surname was Haggard, and I think there was a country music guy by that name. It had not occurred to me before now to wonder at its meaning.
I think there was a country music guy by that name
Merle Haggard – April 6, 1937 to April 6, 2016
I enjoyed his singing a lot.
Merle Haggard, the man who was "proud to be an Okie from Muskogee" ... when he was ACTUALLY a "Cali" from the "San Joaquin Valley".
Great singer though.
