I found it in W H Long's Dictionary of the Isle of Wight dialect (1886) in the Harvest Home section (page 119). It was old then and singers who heard it when they were young heard it sung by old men long dead.

The tune was revived and messed about with by The Dollymops who recorded it a good twenty years ago.

I got the tune from them and D'Urfy's Pills to Purge Melancholy and made the last line of each verse into a refrain.

In other words, for me, it is a song from home as I'm a born and raised Islander or a Caulkhead as we are known over in England.