This is a fascinating extract from John Stow’s Survey of London which shows brothels were excluded from the city on the north bank of the Thames, and followed “the old customs that had been there used time out of mind.” So this confirms the profession could claim to be the oldest.

It shows the women had considerable freedom and there were rules on charges for rent and on opening times. Surprisingly some were owned by the mayor of London and ruined by Wat Tyler and his rebels. It also banned diseased women from the profession.

These women were banned from Christian burial unless reconciled before their death. The parish church provided a burial plot for them called the Single Woman’s churchyard which was far from the parish church. This survives as The Cross Bones Graveyard,

The row of stews was “put down” to “keep good and honest rule” as elsewhere in the realm in 1546

Here’s the full extract from Survey Of London by John Stow, Everyman’s Library, 1940, pages 360-2