Also referred as “The Miller of the Dee” or “The Jolly Miller”, “There Was a Jolly Miller Once” rhyme was originally part the Love in a Village by of Isaac Bickerstaffe in 1762.
The miller in question is said to have owned the mill on the River Dee at Chester. He was supposed to have been envied by Henry VIII himself due to the miller’s great wealth.
The sad end to the story is that the mill was burned down in 1895 just a year after the death of the last of the miller’s descendant.
“There Was a Jolly Miller Once” Lyrics
There was a jolly miller once,
Lived on the river Dee;
He worked and sang from morn till night,
No lark as blithe as he.
And this the burden of his song
Forever used to be,
I care for nobody, no not I,
And nobody cares for me