sorry to wind you all up so much.
Perhaps my perspective is as narrow as would have been a local resident in 16-18 cent. They didn't travel much unless they joined the army or became packhorse men.
I'm not talking about the whole N of England - just my little patch of about 100 sq miles.

No doubt there are records and collections but they weren't made by illiterate workers. I suspect that the collectors would have been tempted to add a bit. Also, is our correspondent suggesting that the Manchester Hornpipe was written in Manchester? - nice hypothesis and bodes well for the Japanese Hornpipe.

The fact that was born and I live here doesn't make some 19 th century collection of "local" doggerel my own tradition. Two grand parents hailed from distant parts of the known world, one was a professional soldier and I'm not sure about the other.

I've watched modern dialect and folklore collectors at work and have known the old biffers they've interviewed. Veracity of record seems often to have been in inverse proportion to length of interview / number of pints.

Discuss

Cheers all

I'm off out on 't moor wi't whippets now.

Jim