Mews - Definition and Overview

Mews is a chiefly British term, used in the plural, referring to stables with living quarters surrounding a courtyard, or living quarters adapted from stables. They are usually found on narrow streets in larger cities.

The term comes from the French muer and Latin mutare (to change), originally applied in French to the moulting of a hawk or falcon, and then to the caging of the bird. The term likely came to English because of the Royal Mews at Charing Cross, where the royal hawks were kept starting in 1377. The name remained when it became the royal stables starting in 1537.