I just remembered the name of the singer I was thinking of, Davy Hammond. Other Belfast area musicians who would be knowledgeable about mill songs include Maurice Leyden and Kathleen McPeake (of the McPeake family)

Regarding the line "Tie up your ends", yes it is in the song about the Doffing Mistress, but I think it's also been used for the title of a book about the mill lasses. They had a lot of songs. "The Doffing Mistress" used to be sung when the Mistress was leaving the factory and her underworkers would sing "Tie up our ends we will surely do for [retiring Mistress] but not for you".

Okay, I'm taking this thread off on another tangent now, but it IS interesting: Ann Brolly of Coalisland, Co Tyrone, N Ireland (now living in Claudy, Co Derry) has a version called The Doffing Master: "Oh, Tommy Rogers, are you going away/Is it tomorrow or is it today/You've left us here with a broken heart/For there's no one else that will take our part." Ann heard that Tommy Rogers was a Doffing Master in Coalisland and that he was sacked because he drank to much. But Tommy had good raport with his workers and they went on strike - practically unheard of in those days, especially for women - esp. in Ireland - to demans his reinstatement.

I'd love to know more about Tommy Rogers. But if only we knew half as much about "Barney Ross"!