It may well have been Bert Lloyd who originally combined Byker Hill and My Dearie Sits Ower Late Up; in his notes to Come All You Bold Miners (revised edition, 1978), he comments:

"Other melodies [than Off She Goes] have been attached to these words of recent years, including the tune of the American camp-meeting hymn Where are the Hebrew Children (see The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, New Haven, Conn., 1835, p.266) and a version of the north-eastern dance tune My Dearie (laddie, lassie) sits ower late up."

These vague statements, when he makes them, often turn out to refer to himself.  The American tune I'm not familiar with; could it be the one Sandy got from Redd Sullivan?  It might explain  this anecdote  earlier in the thread.

A recording of Lloyd singing Byker Hill (date unknown; from Peter Bellamy's collection) appears on Classic A.L. Lloyd (Fellside Records FECD98, 1994).  Martin Carthy stated in his notes to Byker Hill ( , borrowed from Garry Gillard's transcription):

"The words are an amalgam of a version I learned years ago while playing with the Thameside Four, and the version sung by A.L. Lloyd." Of the transcription Jeri quotes from Garry, Lloyd sang forms of verses 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7, beginning with the chorus, as follows:

WALKER HILL AND BYKER SHORE

(As recorded by A.L. Lloyd; source unspecified.)

Chorus:

Oh Walker Hill and Byker Shore, me boys
Collier lads for ever more, me boys
Walker Hill and Byker Shore, me boys
Collier lads for ever more.

My lassie she sits ower late up,
My hinney she sits ower late up,
My Ginny she sits out ower late up,
Betwixt the pint pot and the cup.

And down the pits we'll go me laddies
And down the pits we'll go me marrers;
We'll try our will and use our skill
To cut them ridges down below.

Chorus

My lassie she is never near,
My hinney she is never near;
And when I call out, "Where's me supper?"
She orders up another pint of beer.

Hey Ginny come home to your little baby,
Hey hinney come home to your little baby,
Hey Ginny come home to your little baby,
With a pint of beer all under your arm.

Chorus

The poor coal cutter gets two shillings,
The deputy gets half a crown
And the overman gets five and sixpence,
Lads, just for riding up and down.

Chorus

It looks as if Bert was behind the mutation, then, as is so often the case when things get confusing.  Incidentally, I rather think that  Garry's transcription (as quoted by Jeri above)   needs to omit out in lines 1, 2 and 3 of verse 2;  carter in verse 7 should be cutter.

For the sake of completeness, here is the text of My Dearie Sits Ower Late Up, given in Northumbrian Minstrelsy (Bruce and Stokoe, 1882; reprinted Llanerch Press, 1998):

MY DEARIE SHE SITS OWER LATE UP; OR, MY BONNIE BAY MARE AND I

My dearie sits ower late up,
My hinney sits ower late up,
My laddy sits ower late up,
Betwixt the pint pot and the cup.

Hey! Johnnie, come hame to your bairn,
Hey! Johnnie, come hame to your bairn,
Hey! Johnnie, come hame to your bairn,
Wiv a rye loaf under your airm.

He addles three ha'pence a week,
That's nobbut a farthing a day,
He sits with his pipe in his cheek,
And he fuddles his money away.

My laddy is never the near,
My hinney is never the near,
And when I cry out "lad cum hame,"
He calls oot again for mair beer.

The editors commented:

"This nursery song is thoroughly local, and dates from about the beginning of the last century.  There is such an insignificant difference between the above tune and Dorrington Lads, that they are usually taken to be the same air.  As it is, however, better to err in repitition than in omission, we have included both, premising that we have been unable to settle the question of priority of date."

Malcolm