Well! Bless me!
In 1844, the local residents from neighbouring streets petitioned the property owners of Bedern – the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to deliver on their promise to rid this notorious tiny court of York’s less respectable inhabitants.
The disgruntled petitioners did not hold back as they argued that the leasing of Bedern to the ‘whores and thieves’ brought scandal and disgrace to the Church of England and that a ‘complete renovation of the place’ was the only remedy.
As a crime report to the City Council in 1843 indicates that Bedern was home to a third of York’s prostitutes – the fears of the respectable folk of ‘debauchery carried on with impunity’ is perhaps NOT surprising!