A mews is a row or courtyard of stables and carriage houses with living quarters above them, built behind large city houses before motor vehicles replaced horses in the early twentieth century. Mews are usually located in desirable residential areas, having been built to cater for the horses, coachmen and stable-servants of prosperous residents. The word mews comes from the Royal Mews in London, England, a set of royal stables built 500 years ago on a former royal hawk mews. The term is now commonly used in English-speaking countries for city housing of a similar design. After the advent of World War Two, mews were replaced by alleys and the carriage houses by garages for automobiles. Hawk mews Mews derives from the French , 'to moult', reflecting its original function to confine hawks while they moulted. Shakespeare deploys to mew up to mean confine, coop up, or shut up in The Taming of the Shrew: "What, will you mew her up, Signor Baptista?" and also Richard III: "This day should Clarence closely be mewed up". The term mews is still used today in falconry circles in English-speaking countries to refer to the housing of the birds of prey used in falconry. From 1377 onwards the king's falconry birds were kept in the King's Mews at Charing Cross. Mews stables The first recorded use meaning stables is dated 1548, after the royal stables were built at Charing Cross, on the site of the royal hawk mews. Those royal stables moved to Buckingham Palace Road in 1820. There were also royal mews at St James's Palace. The name mews was taken up for domestic stables in the city during the 17th century. The 18th-century Washington Mews in Greenwich Village, New York City matches the London buildings in period, purpose and name. "Mews" has since been applied to any stable buildings in any space, lane, alley or back street onto which these buildings open, and to any new residential buildings of similar character throughout the English-speaking world that have motor vehicles taking the place of horses and carriages. Description London Mews was applied to service streets and the stables in them in cities, primarily London. In the 18th and 19th centuries, London housing for wealthy people generally consisted of streets of large terraced houses with stables at the back, which opened onto a small service street. The mews had horse stalls and a