"Dating the earliest extant versions is not easy by any means"
Impossible in fact unless you can trace the oral versions further back than the beginning of the twentieth century and further still, earlier than Mrs Knipp
Pepys suggested the song was "old" then
Accordi to the anonymous writer of the introduction to the second edition of 'Complaynt' many of the songs current then and mentioned in the first edition, many of these songs predated the printing press, suggesting an extremely lively oral tradition way back then
Putting a date on these pieces is rather like trying to represent a horse race by taking a photograph at the winning post - a 'non-stater' to mix metaphors

Don't know whether anybody is interested but I've started to put up some of our old articles and talks on the Academia website - I intend to make it a regular thing
I started last week with an article/talk I gave entitled, 'Mikeen McCarthy, Ballad Seller' and have just put up one on Walter Pardon
I will put up another next week on a London/Clare singer and dancer
Yez gorra fill in these empty days with something more interesting than cutting grass !
Jim