Lady Lisle, aka Dame Alicia Lisle, allegedly used to haunt Dibden churchyard (where her son was buried), Moyles Court (where she lived about 300 years before it became a rather posh girls’ school) and the Eclipse pub in Winchester (where she spent her last night before her execution, then every night until her exorcism).
Whether you believe that or not, it’s hard to believe that she was executed for harbouring two fugitives from the battle of Sedgemoor before they had been tried. The principle of “innocent until proved guilty” clearly didn’t hold much sway in 1685.
The song is on “Hooperman In The Can”, and was also published in John Paddy Browne’s book “Folk Songs of Old Hampshire”.
