A fascinating account of the rules & regulations, including financial instruments, surrounding the brothels industry in medieval Lambeth, which paid for the erection of Winchester Palace

Frederick’s Place, in the City of London, used to be called Gropecunt Lane in the medieval period due to its many brothels. As nearby Milk Street and Bread Street can attest, medieval Londoners valued pragmatism above all in their naming of streets.

The statue of the Golden Boy marks the spot where the Great Fire of London was finally stopped. It sits at the corner of Cock Lane in Smithfield, so-named because of the many brothels lining the street.

Until the C16th, the area next to the river in Lambeth was home to the so-called Bankside Stews, a collection of bathhouses that doubled as brothels.