A visit to Huntsworth Mews

Before i describe my visit to Huntsworth Mews, let me warn you that this is not an account which will satisfy the scientifically-minded reader. I can't read maps or street signs, nor can I describe with confidence what an edifice looks like. Visual impairment forces me to focus on what I pick up through my intuition and so I'll ask you to be content with that.

I had researched a little about Huntsworth Mews, as reported in a previous post, but that research didn't prepare me very well for what I found. i was expecting a quaint, cobbled street with Victorian row houses, complete with two steps leading up to a painted door. Instead, i found what appeared to me like a yard. If there had once been front doors at ground level — or even stables and carriage houses — they were now gone, replaced by garages for the residents who lived in the upstairs apartments.

This was disappointing because I couldn't see any pretty Victorian architecture on the house fronts at all. Perhaps this was because there never had been any, the houses having been accommodation for servants in days gone by. or perhaps renovations to the buildings had resulted in the loss of old-fashioned details, especially if those details had been too weathered or damaged to restore.

The old archway leading from the outer street into the mews is, however, still as it always was. Standing beside it, I had a sense of what the atmosphere must once have been like. I could imagine horses passing in and out of the gate, some carrying riders on errands for their masters,, others pulling carriages decked out with curtains and plush velvet seats. Inside the mews, boot makers, bucklers, dressmakers and spinners would be working in a patch of sheltered sunlight, keeping company with their neighbours. Mothers of small children would be busy with washing, cooking and cleaning the house, while the children themselves would be scooting round the edges, chasing the odd tabby cat or chanting rhymes as their grandmothers had taught them to do.

Summer time would probably have been hot in that closed, paved space, but winter would have been fairly cosy, especially if horses were stabled under the houses and hearth-fires were kept burning. Maude's family numbered 12 in all at the time, which would also have added to the feeling of warmth.

My overall impression of Huntsworth Mews was favourable. It was a solid place from which to embark on life's journey in the latter half of the 19th century. Not only were the buildings strong and protective, but the community they housed were knitted together in both work and leisure, producing a comfortable and nurturing environment.