Ref: Whinny Moor - whin is an old word meaning gorse or any prickly plant. We used to go regularly in the summer to pick Whinberries on the Long Mynd, Church Stretton. These are the wild and small version of Bilberries, Blueberries, or Myrtilles (in France). They don't grow on the gorse but on a short, leafy moorland berry plant. I don't know if their name comes from the fact that they grow among the gorse (which is true) or whether the name Whin was a more general name for a prickly bush along the lines of -wort or -rose meaning simply flower. Probably both are true.

Ref: problems with deciphering whether it is sleet or fleet in the lyrics. It may not be known by everyone that a printing habit required that an 's' used at the beginning or in the middle of the word was written with a shape that resembled the lower case f. This ornate letter 's' can still be seen on old gravestones and in books printed in the 18th century and earlier. It was still in use as late as 1824.

Further information on the letter s