1) A dialect word for brushwood used as animal fodder.
A Fountains Abbey lease of 1524 allowed the Haxby family of Hartwith to take firewood and brogge for the cattle: in Warsill in 1526 the tenants were required to keep the cattle in their charge with hay, oke and hollyn broge . It had the same meaning as the more common ‘bruise’ or ‘browse’: 1548 all the broyges or browes pertaining to the same spring, Shelf. It occurs rarely as a verb: 1646 cattell to brogg the same woodes, Tong
1727 one Acre thereof which is near the Highway which is damaged and brogg’d, Kirkheaton. It explains the place-names Brogg Wood and Broggs Hall, both in Cumberworth, and Broggin in Bradfield. The EDD has an entry for ‘brogwood’.
2) An alternative form of ‘broker’ as both a verb and noun, noted in York in particular.
1334 Thomas le brogour of Stamford Bridge, York
1428 et broggatores lanarum, York
1484 ne persones bye ne brog no woll within this citie, York. The broggers are said to have acted as middlemen between the farmers or spinners who produced the wool, and the city merchants. Their role is made explicit in the pageant of the mercers in 1502-3 which contains An othe for the brouggar: an extract reads: Ye shall … truly execut and occupy, betwixt party and party, the office of a brogger. The full text reveals that they dealt in a wide variety of merchandise, including silver, gold, lands, cattle, corn, lead or any other waires.