The Clancy Brothers tune is really not that far removed from some of the tunes sung in England. It may just have been altered to give it more of a swing and a solid melody. The English tunes I've heard tend to be less rhythmical and slower to match the sentiments expressed. The way it is sung nowadays it appears more like a rollicking pro-drinking song when, as somebody has already said, it is really a temperance song (but much older than 1829).