This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
Obtain the most efficient level of functioning
SRF

Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

Kentish mews cottages

English answer:

traditional cottages, typical of the county of Kent

Added to glossary by elsayed fayed
Jun 28, 2010 11:01
14 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term

Kentish mews cottages

English Marketing Tourism & Travel
Each room is in the timber-framed Kentish mews cottages, which are a short stroll across the courtyard from the main house.
Responses
4 +6 traditional cottages, typical of the county of Kent
4 +2 mews converted to be used for accommodation

Discussion

British Diana Jun 29, 2010:
Thank you, juvera Now that you have gone into detail I am fully in agreement with your interpretation. Thank you for sharing your observations! In fact, the Asker now has a lot of expert knowledge to fall back upon, probably far more than what he will need to translate this term in the quite different environment of Egypt.
juvera Jun 28, 2010:
Courtyard The courtyard is either the yard in the middle of the stables, or part of the garden/courtyard of the main house, separating the mews from it.
The street would be on the other side of a row of stables, their exit if you like. The carriage was prepared on that street, bearing the name of "mews" and driven out and around to the front of the main house.
Here it is likely to be a courtyard with the mews houses around it, and as now the whole lot is one hotel complex, they created a common courtyard with the main building. Nothing unusual.
juvera Jun 28, 2010:
...cont. 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 carriage house on the ground floor, and stable servants' living accommodation above. Generally this was mirrored by another row of stables on the opposite side of the service street, backing onto another row of terraced houses facing outward into the next street. Sometimes there were variations such as small courtyards. Most mews are named after one of the principal streets which they back onto. Most but not all have the word "mews" in their name."

I had the pleasure to prepare the plans for convertion of some mews houses in London, and oversee their conversion. I also visited a large number of them, converted and unconverted, so I am fairly familiar with their original position, purpose, appearance, variations and details.
juvera Jun 28, 2010:
Mews Because they are not "rural style of cottages".
I also said: although they are a typical town feature, they can be found anywhere in England.
OED: a group of stables, typically with rooms above, built round a yard or along an alley.
They seldom have any private area or garden attached to them, and the term does not refer to one stable, but a number of them, often every one of them in individual ownership.

The Wiki article on mews is also quite a good description:
"Mews is a chiefly British term formerly describing a row of stables, usually with carriage houses below and living quarters above, built around a paved yard or court, or along a street, behind large city houses, such as those of London, during the 17th and 18th centuries.... The term "mews" is NOT used for large individual non-royal British stable blocks, a feature of country houses. For example the grand stable block at Chatsworth House is referred to as the stables, not the mews. Instead the word was applied to service streets and the stables in them in cities, primarily London.... cont.
British Diana Jun 28, 2010:
I ran out of characters just now... The text says, " ...which are a short stroll across the courtyard from the main house." There is a courtyard, not a street!
British Diana Jun 28, 2010:
Confusion Some confusion seems to have arisen here.
I have looked up "mews" in two large dictionaries and there is no doubt that it originally referred to stables. Beginning with the etymology: the singular "mew" had the meaning "cage, enclosure" originally for falcons. "Mews" came to refer to a range of stabling for horses. The most famous example is the Royal Mews on the site of the hawks' mews at Charing Cross, London. (I went there with my school aged 8). There was also a word "to mew" to cage up, confine.

The modern usage ( New Oxford) : mews- a row or street of houses or flats that have been converted from stables or built to look like former stables.
Thus Nesrin's explanation is perfectly correct. I don't know why juvera thinks that the converted dwellings must necessarily be urban developments or in any way a town feature (not that there are not Kentish towns). Any large and grand enough house whether in the town or in the country would have had mews for the owner's horses. Thuis the "mews cottages" can be in the town or in the country.
I am also not sure why Peter thinks that mews are in a lane behind a house. The only certainty is that the stables were arranged in rows.
juvera Jun 28, 2010:
@ Nesrin The problem is that these features are not typical of the towns of Kent. They are typical of the urban developments of the 18th and 19th centuries everywhere in Britain.

The word Kentish got into the text partly because the hotel it refers to is in Kent and because there are cottages typical of Kent, therefore "Kentish cottages" is a frequently used, convenient expression and those who are not familiar with the history of English architecture, may use it indiscriminately.

But these Kentish cottages are medieval, some originate from the 14th century, up until and including the 17th century, they were always used for dwellinghouses (sometimes with shops or workshops) and they have nothing to do with mews cottages.

The "short stroll accross the courtyard from the main house" underlines that the cottages relating to the text are mews cottages, otherwise they would not have come up with the word "mews", as it refers to the distinquishable type of town development, the 2 storey stable behind the main house which lost its original purpose and became the subject of conversions and although they are a typical town feature, they can be found anywhere in England & sometimes beyond.

Responses

+6
6 mins
Selected

traditional cottages, typical of the county of Kent

Mews cottages are rural style cottages, traditionally converted from stables. "Kentish" means they are located in/ typical of/ built in the style found in the English county of Kent.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 mins (2010-06-28 11:10:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

More about "mews":

Mews lost their equestrian function in the early 20th century when motor cars were introduced. At the same time, after World War I and especially after World War II, the number of people who could afford to live in the type of houses which had a mews attached fell sharply.[citation needed] Some mews were demolished or put to commercial use, but the majority were converted into homes. These "mews houses", nearly always located in the wealthiest districts, are themselves now fashionable residences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mews

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2010-06-28 13:49:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Hi Elsayed - please note Peter's addition below... so they're not actually a rural feature, apparently, and "Kentish" should be understood as "in the style of Kent", not necessarily located in Kent.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2010-06-28 14:53:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

@juvera: Where in my answer did I refer to Kent as a town or city?? Kent is a county as I referred to it. And much as I want to believe you when you say the answer is not correct, your comment doesn't make things any clearer.
Plus: Peter's note that mews are town features does NOT imply that Kent is a town either! Kent is a county that INCLUDES towns, I hope you'll agree with that!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2010-06-28 15:07:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

HI again juvera- further to your added note: "town features typical of a particular county?" Yes, I see no contradiction in that: These are features typical of the towns located in a particular county...
Peer comment(s):
agree Shera Lyn Parpia
57 mins
agree Polangmar : Although I am not sure if they are traditional or typical (probably not).
1 hr
agree Joyce A
2 hrs
agree Peter Skipp : A mews is a lane behind the main house, which is located on a street. Thus, there would be one mews between two streets. Mews are not typical of villages, but of cities. So, "in the style of Kent", rather than "as in Kent"
2 hrs
Thanks for the addition, Peter, I'll draw the asker's attention to it.
disagree juvera : The answer is not correct, and it is getting worse. Although mews are indeed, primarily town features, there is no town named Kent, let alone city in England, so the reference to "Kent" can be misleading.//Town features typical of a particular county?
3 hrs
(Please see my replies to your comment in my 2 last added notes, thanks)
agree cmwilliams (X) : From Google research, this is most likely referring to a hotel in Kent and Kentish is the name of their mews cottages.//yes, you're probably right.
5 hrs
Possibly! Don't you think "mews cottages" would have been capitalised though, if it was the name of the cottages?
agree British Diana : "Kentish" has the meanings you say originally!
8 hrs
Thanks for the confirmation, Diana.
agree Alexandra Taggart : means they are located in Kent, the word ending "ish" doesn't indicate similarity in appearance, it means "from".
1 day 8 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thank you"
+2
58 mins

mews converted to be used for accommodation

located in Kent
Peer comment(s):
agree juvera : The text is from a flowery hotel description. The hotel is in the county of Kent, hence "Kentish". The description of "mews" would have helped.
2 hrs
Thank you :)
agree Jessie LN
3 hrs
Thank you :)
Something went wrong...
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search