I'm surprised, with all this Northern bias to the thread, that no-one's thought to mention Geoff Higginbottom's cassette recording (I think it's his first album, can't recall title, might be eponymous) with the Kershaw version on it. I remember writing to him to clarify some of the lyrics I couldn't quite hear. One of the lines he gave (and this may be because he also learnt it from a recording) had "brisked up many a spine" at the end of the first verse.
I did learn it enough to sing without crib-sheets, but was looking it up to re-learn the forgotten bits. Not all the lyrics Stewie provided way back in 2000 'came back' to me, so Geoff H's version may differ subtly in quite a few respects. (From memory, he didn't credit HK, in ignorance not malice, for sure).
If DtG isn't miffed about it, I'll work on the ideas in his mooted last verse. Couple of places where it doesn't quite scan like the original, but it's certainly nearly there. Good work, and an interesting thread.