I've heard it as a melodeon (?) tune on the old Saydisk LP 'All Around England and Back Again' with a moving testimonial from one of the old dancers dubbed over it. I must say, I'm a sucker for this sort of of thing and assumed it to be authentic until I read somewhere that the whole thing was faked.

I first heard the tune on the LP 'Times & Traditions for Dulcimer' by Roger Nicolson, Jake Walton & Andrew Cronshaw over thirty year back & it's stuck with me ever since.

I've heard various ideas - one suggestion was that the tune was 'Medieval', but whatever the case, I still play it on the whistle at this time of year; goes especially well on my old Generation brass Bb bought at the Rothbury festival in 1984...