Cranley Mews is a long winding mews on the Evelyn Gardens side of Cranley Gardens. The properties were, of course, originally built as stables with accommodation for servants above, to serve the owners of the big houses in Cranley Gardens. It would seem that the employers prized their horses far above their grooms, because almost the whole of the frontage of each mews property is taken up with stable doors. Some of the houses have narrower than usual front doors. There are usually two windows in the first storey, one with a waist-high sill and the other a French door which opens onto a tiny balcony.

Cranley Mews is particularly attractive because so many of the original stable doors, with their huge wrought iron hinges, still remain.  The houses wind along both sides of a cobbled street. They have been painted in a variety of colours, a bit like areas of Notting Hill, which gives a very friendly continental look to the street.

Charles Freake began construction of Cranley Gardens in 1875. Construction in this area had become possible because the Smith’s Charity had exchanged pieces of land with the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851. For the full story, read the history of the Harrington-Villars estate.

Prior to the construction of Cranley Gardens it had been rare for there to be an adequate number of stables and coach-houses with living quarters above, to be erected to serve the main houses. But for Cranley Gardens the long Cranley Mews was constructed. Even so, demand outstripped supply, so livery stables were also provided behind the houses and shops in Old Brompton Road as well as in Onslow Mews and Ensor Mews. Mews were built to stable horses and carriages for the richer inhabitants of the main houses, with accommodation for servants above the stables.