Gardiner collected a similar version of the Everlasting Circle in Cornwall in 1905 (in Marrowbones). Sharp collected several verson, as indeed did most of the early English collectors, under varios titles The Tree Song/The Tree In The Wood/The Everlasting Circle/Down In The Lowlands/The Tree In The Bog/The Rattling Bog. Earliest printed in these collections was from Mason 1877 (a Devon version), but Kennedy (Folksongs of Britain & Ireland) refers to an undated Pitt broadside, which may be earlier.
Mick


Marrowbones version:
Now in the grove there was a tree
And so fine a tree as ever you did see
And the tree was in the wood
Where the green leaves grows around, around, around
Where the green leaves grows around

Succeeding verses having:
Now in this tree there came a limb
Now in this limb there came a branch
Now in this branch there came a nest
Now in this nest there came an egg
Now in this egg there came a bird
Now of this bird there came a feather
Now of this feather there came a bed
Now of this bed there came a maid
Now of this maid there came a man
Now by this man was planted a seed
Now of this seed there came a tree