Apart from the floater verse about carriages a-rolling, Whiskey in the Jar seems a pretty straightforward story of robbery and betrayal. I think what's interesting about the Cadgwith Anthem (I see it's on the main site under Beauty of Kashmir by the way) is that it seems to be a song from inside a community of robbers/higwaymen but it gives a fairly romanticised picture of the way of life.

It feels to me like a song that has been written by some antiquarian somewhere. Not that it detracts from it's beauty, I just find that sort of thing interesting. Of course it could have been written by some pot-poet in Seven Dials like half of our traditional songs.