I've often wondered whether there was a "national" school songbook for this stuff

I saw an old Eton Songbook in Oxfam (Preston) the other day and it was full of those folk songs.

For the record, I can appreciate the tradition of Britten & Pears more than I do most revival singers. There was a delightful Andreas Scholl album of folk songs around a few years back which struck a similar chord, as do the old recordings of Jack Langstaff, clips of which you can listen to HERE. I especially love his singing of The Souling Song - not to mention All The Ducks...

I must admit all this Folkier Than Thou crap really sticks in my craw.