The Cherry Tree Carol
Knock At The Knocker, Ring At The Bell track 6
The Cherry Tree Carol, with its apocryphal biblical story, is yet another carol with a centuries-old history – probably dating back as far as the fifteenth century. It appeared in various versions in several nineteenth century printed collections, but also survived in the oral tradition well into the twentieth century: Sharp collected the carol in English counties including Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and of course Cornwall, as well as from several singers in the Appalachian mountains in America. As recently as the 1950s recordings of the carol were made by traditional singers as far apart as Cinderford in Gloucestershire and New South Wales, Australia. Our tune is from the Cornish Hutchens MS, which was drawn up for Davies Gilbert c.1817, and formed the basis of his very influential 1822 publication Some Ancient Christmas Carols (although this particular carol was not included in the published book).