100 years ago

Were we suffering as a nation from a bad attack of “airshipitis,” or was it true that a foreign power was engaged on a nocturnal survey of the country, mapping out the location of forts, arsenals, wireless stations, and the line of the railways?

Each of these theories had its following. There were even some timorous folk who were almost expecting, at any moment after night had fallen, a shell or a bomb might come hurling from the ethereal domain and crumple them up. At the opposite end of the line of opinion were the people who put on a sarcastic smile and asked, “What did you have to drink last night?” In the mass of conjecture there was confusion.

The War Office had admitted to the possession of definite information that nocturnal visits had been made by a foreign airship. Of course, the usual disclaimer had come from Germany, stating that they were very much amused at England’s latest scare.

50 years ago

British Railways were to have a new look. Smarter uniforms (the first big change for 50 years), more spacious carriages, more comfortable seating and brighter livery for freight trains were part of the drive to win more customers.

The railway unions were keen on the proposed uniform changes, it was announced at the Design Centre in London, where the new look would be on display until March 23. Four new basic types of uniform would be tried out by men at five or six stations, in different parts of the country, by the end of the year. The men’s reaction would be noted before full production of the uniform was started. The station master’s top hat was in danger of being banished as an ‘anachronism’.

25 years ago

Archaeologists in York were to probe one of the city’s darkest secrets when they tried to uncover a medieval brothel which plied its business on church property.

The prostitutes of Grape Lane, then known as Grope Lane or worse, used a tumbledown set of houses known as Benet’s Rents to entertain their customers. The properties belonged to the ancient church of St Benet close by, near the junction with Back Swinegate, and were believed to lie beneath a vegetable wholesale yard. St Benet’s had already been demolished by the time York’s parishes were amalgamated in 1547.

The church was first mentioned in 1154 and was strongly associated with the Vicars Choral of York Minster. By 1338, according to the official record, it was “so decayed as to become a refuse heap.” The Black Death meant the church had to rent its properties to almost any tenant in order to pay extra ministers to say masses for the dead.