"I have made efforts - within limits - to check origins"

It's those limits, WAV, that are the problem. No one on here is impressed with the limited research you have done, which appears to be mostly on the internet. Anyone with a serious interest in the music would be checking reputable printed sources and recordings. Admittedly they are not always easy to obtain, but your local library should be able to help, or you could try the Vaughn Williams library. Or use the internet with more care and don't take a single website at its face value. You say you were trained to do this at university, but there is precious little evidence of it in what you write on here.

WAV, no one doubts your enthusiasm, but by your own admission you have only been involved in folk music for a fairly short time. Others on here have been deeply involved for 30, 40, 50 years or more. We are trying to be patient with your naivety, but your unwavering belief that you are right is trying!

I had to read your post of 30 May 3:45pm several times to understand it, but so what? Most of the students on the Newcastle degree do include traditional material in their repertoires, but if it also produces a songwriter able to produce fine new English songs based on a grounding in the tradition, then I think it has made a contribution.