I hope you don't mind me quoting you Ian, but I think that's where the confusion is - re E6 or 7b+.
It's both. People have grown accustomed to thinking that an E grade necessarily implies "Trad".
It's just the British way of grading routes, whether they're "trad", "sport" or a bit of a mix.
I remember chatting with Jason Myers about the Cave Routes, and how expansive the E6 grade was. Cave Route Left was never considered E7 though.
I remember one of "what happened there" Jase' sponsorship letters. He was presenting his repeat of Renaissance at Malham as one of very few one day ascents of an E7 at the time.
I followed Dave Pegg on the FA of Aboriginal Sin at Kilnsey. That was given E6 at the time, but is now given 7c+.
Chiseling at Malham was always considered a stiff E5. It's 7C ;D
