"Over the Hill and Over the Vale", also known as "O'er the Hill and O'er the Dale" is a carol produced by Rev. John Mason Neale and Rev. Thomas Helmore. Some sources say that Neale translated the Latin text "In vernali tempore" but that poem is about Spring and the return of life. There seems to be some confusion between the text and the tune which is given in the original Piae Cantiones as "De Tempore Vernali Cantiones". Helmore adapted this tune for "Over the Hill and Over the Vale". In 1853, a copy of the rare 1582 edition of Piae Cantiones was acquired by Rev. John Mason Neale and Rev. Thomas Helmore from G. J. R. Gordon, Her Majesty's Envoy and Minister at Stockholm. Helmore adapted the carol melodies and Neale either paraphrased the carol lyrics into English or wrote entirely new lines. Excerpts from both the music and words were published in Carols for Christmas-tide (London: Novello) in 1853 and Carols for Easter-tide in 1854, each of which contained 12 carols. At the time, Piae Cantiones was virtually unknown in England; thereafter, its words and music would be read, adapted and performed throughout the English-speaking world. It was further printed in The Cowley Carol Book which was edited by George Ratcliffe Woodward and was published in 1901 and 1919, in two parts and was subtitled as a selection of carols "for Christmas, Easter and Ascension-tide". The First Series was produced by George Ratcliffe Woodward, and for the second, later volume he was assisted by Charles Wood. The 'First Series' (1901, revised 1902) contained 39 carols, some already published in J. M. Neale and T. Helmore's Carols for Christmas-tide, 1853 and Carols for Easter-tide, 1854. The second edition of the first volume (1902) had 65 carols - 42 for Christmas and Epiphany, 20 for Easter and 3 for Ascension-tide. I have not found this in print in any current volume. It does not appear in either the original Oxford Book of Carols or the New Oxford Book of Carols. It was recorded by Nowell Sing We Clear on Nowell Sing We Clear, Volume 4 and by William Pint and Felicia Dale on When I See Winter Return. They use the melody shown here but with more syncopation. The audio file is from their recording.