I came across an old photocopy of a chapter from a book by, I believe, Roy Palmer, the UK Folk Historian. (I can't believe that I didn't write a reference on my copy!!!!)
Anyway, the 7th chapter is called "The Life of a Man : Seasons and Ceremonies" and in it is a song entitled "Bell Tune" from Lancashire, UK. (there was some thought that the title MAY have been a corruption of "Beltane" the Celtic May festival).
It bears a striking similarity to "Buffalo Gals" (the first line is "I danced wi' a girl wi' a hole in her stockin' an' her heel kep' a-rockin' ...")

I'll type in part of the preface (and hope I don't lose my connection!):

"The meaning of the song seems to be that a girl is tempted to join in a witches' orgy, but is saved by the young man who agrees to marry her. It was sung at Stockenbrig, St Michael's-on-Wyre, in the Fylde, a remote part of Lancashire, between 1849 and 1853, both on May Days and at Lammas (1 August, 3 months later). It was first published in 1936, and caused some eyebrows to be raised by its exoticism.
The collector, M.W.Myers, added this information two years later, partly in response to the suggestion that his tune was surprisingly similar to that of "Buffalo Girls", an American song popular in the mid 19th century (which, incidentally, enjoyed a new vogue in the late 1940's.) : I "collected" it in this way. I have a friend with, fortunately, a particularly retentive memory. She had often heard her father sing this song, and was told by him how he and several others used to sing it at St Michael's-on-Wyre, in the Fylde. I have the names of several of them. I knew that the tune is said not to be the original one ... Some of the singers came from families that had come from Sutherlandshire, for horse breeding or to bring sheep and cattle to the fells. This may push the origin back into Scotland, but the song was sung at St Michael's. Old John Crampton, the singer that I knew well, was descended on his mother's side from the Raes. ... As regards date of singing, I gather that May-day and Lammas were regular times ..., but it was also sung when the young fellows got together at other times."

I'll type in the 8 verses of the song at a later date (I have to go now!) ... Cheers R-J