Gee, there doesn't seem to be much sourch information on this. I can't say I'd trust Steeleye Span as a source. There is an A.L. Lloyd recording, but the song isn't mentioned in Lloyd's Folk Song in England. I can't figure out where Bruce found the Roy Palmer reference he speaks of above.
Here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index.
-Joe Offer-

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Weaver and the Factory Maid, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer, a hand-weaver, loves a woman who works in a factory. He visits her in her bedroom despite his family's scorn. All the girls have gone to weave with steam; "If you would see them you must rise at dawn/And trudge to the mill in the early morn"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1955 (IRRCinnamond01)
KEYWORDS: love sex factory weaving family worker technology nightvisit
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, WVFACTGL WEAVFACT (both transcribed from the recording by Steeleye Span; the former is the better transcription)
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "The Weaver and the Factory Maid" (on IRRCinnamond01) (fragment; only the first verse)
A. L. Lloyd, "The Weaver and the Factory Maid" (on Lloyd3, IronMuse1)
File: DTwvfact

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