Many thanks to all the informed contributions on this thread.

It is pleasing that it generated a lot of interest. In summary it seems it is not clear what the origins are. It is probably a very old song and, like many, of unknown origin but sung in many parts of the British Isles and Ireland in various forms. Norfolk, like many isolated areas, merely preserved some of the old songs and tunes longer. It interesting that often there isn't just one way to sing a song or play a tune and also the song or tune is extracted from years of complex interconnected Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Anglo-Saxon history.

Sometimes fans of Irish music try to be purist about it and look down on 'non-Irish' music, especially people from other parts of Europe or the world without realising the intricate threads and links that Irish music has with British music. However of course there should always be respect for the beautiful, skillful and sensitive way that Irish music is often played.

Ewan MacColl once said he sung his 'Shoals of Herring' to the old Norfolk singer Sam Larner who after hearing it said: "Oive known that song all me loife" It has been heard sung in Ireland as the 'Shores of Erin'. It natural for people when raising the profile of one identity to try to define it better at the exclusion of other identities but that process over simplifies a complex history.

The old english tune 'Girl I left behind me' or 'Brighton Camp' or 'Bride in Camp' appears to be very old, used by the cavalry in America, and in various Irish songs such as 'Bucket of the Mountain Dew' and is used in English Morris Dancing. And of course Morris Dancing, heralded as one of the few things that are particularly 'English', has many quite definitely Scottish and Irish tunes, presumably brought to the Cotswolds by itinerant travelling musicians or 'wild rovers'!

Albatross