Nursery Rhymes

[MadaboutRoses1883]

So I was bouncing my little granddaughter on my knee singing a nursery rhyme that I sang to my own children 30+ years ago. It occurred to me that it is way out of date, 'Horsey Horsey don't you stop', (so horse & cart era, possibly 100-150 years ago?) but I remembered my mother singing it to me and my brothers and sisters and also I remember it being sung by my grandmother when she looked after us when my mother went shopping. And she must have learned it from her mother , possibly her grandmother too?
I have a feeling that if I took my granddaughter to a playgroup and sang her that I'd get funny looks from the young mothers. 
So how old do you reckon the oldest nursery rhyme is? Do you think our modern day nursery rhymes would stand the test of time, like the old ones have?
(what do they sing to them nowadays, CBB's don't do much nursery rhyme singing?)

[Rosinish]

Ones I remember

This one is great for teaching them to count as it has 10 versus............,

This old man, he played 1
He played nick nack on my thumb
With a nick nack, paddy wack
Give the dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home
------------

This little piggy went to market
This little piggy stayed at home
This little piggy had roast beef
This little piggy had none
This little piggy cried wee wee wee
All the way home (While tickling their feet, belly & under ams)......has them in giggles 

Annie

[Cell]

So how old do you reckon the oldest nursery rhyme is?

Hi,
I don't think you will find the oldest considering they were not written down in the olden days, Rhymes and songs was passed down orally. And do you mean only children's ( Nursery) - because many of our Nursery Rhymes were not considered just for Children, they started life off before they entered the Nursery.
 When you mean oldest , world's oldest? or British Oldest? Because I think it would basically impossible to find out what is considered to be the world's oldest. Also many of the British ones  did not come from Britain 
It may be easier to find the first published nursery Rhyme, or lullaby. And considering it is poetry  The oldest Nursery Rhyme would be asking what is the oldest Poem? Goodness knows - Poetry is at the dawn of time.  Wouldn't lullaby's be older? And when is a Lullaby a Lullaby and a nursery Rhyme a  nursery Rhyme . A Rhyme is a  poem. They interweave with each other. Confusing.

Take for instance , the most popular Nursery Rhyme that every child still knows today,  (which is a  simile  poem )Twinkle Twinkle  little star( it was first published in the very early 1800's, but before that it was written down as a poem ) . It is sung as a Lullaby and also said as a poem - but, hang on- before it was published as Twinkle Star- it was published in Alice's adventurers in Wonderland (Lewis Caroll) as Twinkle twinkle Little Bat, How I wonder what your at, up above the world you fly, like a tea tray in the sky, twinkle twinkle little bat, How I wonder what your at (1865)

I think it is a really an Impossible task to find the oldest.

Kind Regards

[GUT]

I expect the first parents that could talk sang songs and nursery rhymes to their littlies.

I know my grandmother, who would be about 132 if still alive would talk about nursery rhymes her grand mother (206) told her that she had learnt from her mother.

[Mowsehowse]

According to my [1984] copy of the "Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes" edited by Iona & Peter Opie:

1.8% of the rhymes [presumably those in the book,] are definitely found recorded in contemporary documentation dating 1599 and before.
 
8.6% were known when Charles l was executed in 1649.

[GUT]

According to my [1984] copy of the "Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes" edited by Iona & Peter Opie:

1.8% of the rhymes [presumably those in the book,] are definitely found recorded in contemporary documentation dating 1599 and before.
 
8.6% were known when Charles l was executed in 1649.

Interesting stats, but they don't surprise.

[Mowsehowse]

[Interesting stats, but they don't surprise.

No. not surprising to me either Gut, but the question was asked, so I tried to help with the best answer I could find. 

[Berlin-Bob]

Take for instance , the most popular Nursery Rhyme that every child still knows today,  (which is a  simile  poem )Twinkle Twinkle  little star( it was first published in the very early 1800's, but before that it was written down as a poem ) . It is sung as a Lullaby and also said as a poem - but, hang on- before it was published as Twinkle Star- it was published in Alice's adventurers in Wonderland (Lewis Caroll) as Twinkle twinkle Little Bat, How I wonder what your at, up above the world you fly, like a tea tray in the sky, twinkle twinkle little bat, How I wonder what your at (1865)

1865 ?  According to "The Annotated Alice" from Martin Gardner:
The Hatter's song parodies the first verse of Jane Taylor's well known poem, "The Star"

See also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_T0yxoMC2c

Jane Taylor (23 September 1783 -- 13 April 1824), was an English poet and novelist. She wrote the words for the song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in 1806 at age 23, while living in Shilling Street, Lavenham, Suffolk.

Bob

[GUT]

[Interesting stats, but they don't surprise.

No. not surprising to me either Gut, but the question was asked, so I tried to help with the best answer I could find. 

I've replied 5 times and it keeps disappearing.

I certainly appreciated the information.

I once read that Baa Baa Black sheep dated back to the Wool Tax, which from memory was introduced in 1125.