To continue, having re-read matt milton's post above.

I first heard Vin Garbutt sing it shortly after going the to the funeral of an old lady I had know for several decades. Until the priest spoke about her I had not known that she had been thrown out of her family (in the 1930s) for marrying across what is still, in some areas, a troublesome denominational divide. The priest said he was glad that in that parish it was thing of the past but was sad to see analogous situations within the local community as it now was. He was meaning just the sort of story recounted in the song.

I think he could empathize with the families involved. I think Vin Garbut does too.