Her's what June sings. I believe she attributes her version to Eddie Butcher (but didn't have time to check the tape of her singing it where I think she makes that attribution.

I've tried to keep the lines to the phrasing June appears (to me!) to use, rather than regularising them. And I've left the chorus/refrain there in full ('cause I couldn't think of a neater alternative).

HEATHER DOWN THE MOOR
(from June Tabor)

One morn in May
When fields were gay
Serene and pleasant was the weather
I spied a lass
And a very bonnie lass
She was sweeping the dew from among the heather.

Down the moor
And among the heather
O'er the moor
And through the heather
And a very bonnie lass
She was sweeping the dew from among the heather.
Down the moor


Bare footed was she,
She was comely dressed
And her hat bore neither hat nor feather.
She's a plaid wrapped neatly round her waist
As she tripped through the blooming heather

Down the moor
And among the heather
O'er the moor
And through the heather
She's a plaid wrapped neatly round her waist
As she tripped through the blooming heather
Down the moor


I stepped up to this fair young maid,
Tell me your name,
Come tell me hither.
She answered me "Down by the bonnie burn side"
"And I'm herding of my ewes together."

Down the moor
And among the heather
O'er the moor
And through the heather
She answered me "Down by the bonnie burn side"
"And I'm herding of my ewes together."
Down the moor


I courted her that live-long day,
My heart as light as any feather,
Until the beams of the red-setting sun
Come a-shining down amongst the heather.

Down the moor
And among the heather
O'er the moor
And through the heather
Until the beams of the red-setting sun
Come a-shining down amongst the heather.
Down the moor


She said "Young man, I must away,"
"My ewes are straying from each other,"
"But I'm as loath for to part with you"
"As the bonnie wee lambs to part their mother."

Down the moor
And among the heather
O'er the moor
And through the heather
"But I'm as loath for to part with you"
"As the bonnie wee lambs to part their mother."
Down the moor


So up she got
And away she went
And her name and place I cannot gather
But if I were a king I would make her a queen
The bonnie lass I met in amongst the heather

Down the moor
And among the heather
O'er the moor
And through the heather
But if I were a king I would make her a queen
The bonnie lass I met in amongst the heather
Down the moor


HTH!
As I said, she sings this at a cracking pace. The song, WITH an "instrumental verse", totals less than 3 minutes.

G.