This is a north country song which is now so well-known that song collectors probably don’t report having ‘collected’ it.  It is about a real person: John Peel (c.1777-1854) in Caldbeck, Cumberland, and become a reknowned huntsman.  The original words were written by Peel’s friend John Woodcock Graves, (1795–1886), in Cumbrian dialect set to a Scottish dance tune ‘Bonnie Annie’.  The words of this Gloucestershire version show signs of having been shaped by the oral tradition.

Notes by Gwilym Davies 2 April 2016