GeorgeH - just a little anecdote, don't snap at me! I pressed my send thingy a little early, and it was very late. The French friends to whom I was referring are musicians, so they can name rather a lot of Scots and Irish tunes, my point was that most non-folky Brits could think of more of those than of English ones (even my example was of a song rather than just a tune, and the two you quote are not entirely traditional!)- which is very sad, and one of my recurring irritations - I was in several English ceilidh bands in the UK, and the general public perception of trad music is that it's all Irish or Scottish or American square dancing - we played English music for English dances (mostly), my previous message was going to expand upon the lines of how annoying I found / find this perception, that the music of England is important, valid, etc. etc.. (and great to dance to) and in no way was I dismissing same! Positively the opposite. Applying a little irony, which perhaps one can't always see in the printed word. And I'd like to reiterate Keith (Selby)'s recommendation of Mike Raven's book mentioned above as an excellent source of English trad tunes. And then of course there's the little matter of Morris dancing - see Mainly Morris for heaps of stuff about Morris.
Haven't done any 'clickies' recently so I hope that one works. And cheers, Philippa, for doing one for the Black Country songs - I did a lot of typing there but couldn't find it again!! Haven't been very voluble recently - very busy over the summer but this subject is one of my high horses!
Nice to be back with you all, and happy that the sticky patch of a few weeks ago appears to have subsided...several old friends seem to have disappeared following that.
Jo Taylor