 In 1905 , inspired by a lecture given by the pioneer folksong historian Lucy Broadwood , Grainger began to collect original folksongs . Starting at Brigg in Lincolnshire , over the next five years he gathered and transcribed more than 300 songs from all over the country , including much material that had never been written down before . From 1906 Grainger used a phonograph , one of the first collectors to do so , and by this means he assembled more than 200 Edison cylinder recordings of native folk singers . These activities coincided with what Bird calls " the halcyon days of the ' First English Folksong Revival ' " . 
