Lord Bateman
Three Quarter Time track 12
The tune is from Shadrack “Shepherd” Hayden, and was collected in Bampton, Oxfordshire, by Cecil Sharp in 1909.
Alfred Williams also collected the song from Shepherd Hayden, noting in Folk Songs of the Upper Thames that it was "A well known old ballad, the popular version of a still earlier piece. It is said been thought to refer to the period of the Crusades. Common to the whole of the Thames Valley, though never sung now. I obtained my version of 'Wassail' Harvey, of Cricklade, and Shadrach Haydon, of Hatford, Faringdon".
Ian put together a composite set of verses; Shepherd Hayden's words can be found on the Wiltshire Community History website.