Thanks for the link, Malcolm. I haven't read The Chime Child, but the song perfectly illustrates just how hard it is to compose a 'folk song'; while the song is quite a powerful piece of poetry which makes very good use of traditional themes, the rhythm and diction and the subject (a rape by the Devil) are all too artificial to be folk material.
All the same I wouldn't regard the song itself as being 'tainted' - it's still an enjoyable(?) song to listen to.
I shouldn't have suggested it is related to 'The Gown of Green' other than as an example of the term 'green gown', but I must confess some admiration for the way the song packs in some traditional images such as a little pen knife, a lost lady, a green gown, a tolling bell and a winding sheet!
Matthew