the question is whether functionally it is any more the folk music of England

No, it isn't. And it hasn't been replaced, either - there is no "folk music of England" any more. First there were pianolas, then there were wireless sets, then there was the telly, and by the mid-1960s basically nobody had to make their own music any more. And what people don't have to do, by and large they don't do - unless they're doing it as a hobby, like home brewing or making your own clothes. So "the folk process" ground to a halt. "What makes a new song a folk song?" Nothing. Ain't gonna happen.

Oh, and I've read the Faerie Queene - once. Traditional songs are a damn sight more valuable than that!