I'm pretty sure The Weaver and the Factory Maid was collected by Cecil Sharp in Lancashire. The lyrics published in DT are those recorded by Steeleye Span 30 years ago.

The opening quatrain may be borrowed from another song. Also quatrains 7 and 8 may be borrowed or invented by Steeleye Span (note that the narrative voice shifts from first to third preson, then back to first for the final quatrain).

I came across this song published in an anthology with a title like The Oxford Book of English Ballads years ago, and recall that it lacked those parts.

I sing it in G.

  D           G     C     D
  I'm a hand weaver to me trade.
            G         C G       D
  I fell in love with a fact'ry maid,
            G        C   G     D 
  And if I could but her favor win,
            G              C        D 
  I'd stand beside her and weave by steam.
  

I abbreviate factory to fact'ry to fit the meter. I aspirate the first syllable sharply, as it echoes the 'f' and hard 'c' sound of a vulgarity, which the weaver might use to describe his activities after he turns down the sheets. He also might blurt it out in frustration, not only because the machine age is threatening his livelihood, but because he has to trudge to the mill in the early morn.