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A Virgin Unspotted

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Place Collected: Tewkesbury
Date collected: 1908 (11 Apr)
Collector: Sharp, Cecil
Roud Number: 1378

This is one of the most well-known of our traditional carols and one of the oldest, having been first printed in 1661.  The ballad printer Samuel Harward published a set of words in Tewkesbury in the late 18th Century.  Many versions have been collected in the West of England, particularly in Gloucestershire and the border counties.  Until recent times it was sung at Christmas in various Gloucestershire villages.

Notes by Gwilym Davies