MEWS

row of stables and coach houses with living quarters above, built in a paved yard behind large London houses of the 17th and 18th centuries. Today most mews stables have been converted into houses, some greatly modernized and considered highly desirable residences. The word may also refer to a lane or alley in which stables are situated. The term mews originally referred to the royal stables in London, so called because they were built where the king's hawks were once mewed, or confined at molting (or mew) time.