Collected by Cecil Sharp in Bampton, Oxfordshire from Shadrack Hayden, 6th September 1909. Shadrack Hayden was better known as Shepherd Hayden: born at Lyford, Berkshire in 1826, he shepherded at Hatford near Farrington before moving to Bampton in 1891. The song appears to be a local composition: the first verse mentions Compton Down and Ilsley (these days just off the A34 going north from Newbury) a few miles from where Hayden was born. It is likely that he learned this song when he was himself a young shepherd boy.

See http://www.berkshirehistory.com/villages/eastilsley.html to see why East Ilsley was, as the song says, "called a market town".

Six For Gold