Roud 2586. MacColl (Singing Island, 1960) comments: "Still current in Northeast Yorkshire, this song is attributed to Thomas Paine, lead-miner and bard of Teasdale. The washing-rake, where the lead-bearing rocks were separated from the clay and gravel, were usually operated by young boys or old disabled miners. Local legend has it that the mine-owners reacted to the song by temporarily closing the pits and importing leadminers from Germany."