Well, thank you all. What a very interesting discussion this is turning out to be.

Brian, just to check, since I don't have a copy of 'The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs' or The Journal of the Folk-Song Society in 1915 to look myself, is the tune I sing, derived from Martin Carthy, exactly (or near enough) as sung by Mrs Joiner in Herefordshire to Lucy Broadwood, with its elongated refrain, with that not added by Martin? If so, I will amend my article to say so. And thank you for pointing it out.

Steve, you're quite right, of course: any ballad that gets its historical facts all correct isn't a ballad. It's in their nature to dramatise and fabricate. In that way, I think they're rather like cinematic treatments of, for example, William Wallace, not letting the facts get in the way of dramatic additions that sell the story (in both cases, literally sell the story). Then, of course, once the song enters the oral tradition, there are the inevitable mishearings, memory slips, pushing of perspectives and unconscious accretions from other ballads. It's just that, in the case of this song, the link with any actual person seems *so* tenuous that I wonder if it was ever truly there to begin with. I don't suppose we'll ever know for sure.   

Mrrzy, no apology necessary, and thank you for pointing out the link with playing boys and castle walls.