Bawdy Houses

One of the consequences of Portsmouth being a Naval and garrison town has been the preponderance of cases coming before the courts concerning unruliness. As early as 1655 the Justices received a petition from 23 local notables complaining about a Joan Wilkes running a bawdy house on the Point and who was ‘an uncivil and ungodly woman, who curses and swears and is great disturber to her neighbours’.