Slaughter House or butcher shop?

[gazania]

My ancestor, George Wareham (b 1796 Esher, SRY) was a butcher.  On the Surrey Land Tax records for 1832 + he is listed as being an occupier of a house and of a slaughter house in the Market Place, Kingston on Thames. The owner of the house is not the same person who owns the slaughter house and the rent is about half that of the house. The numbering of the slaughter house would suggest that it is in a back lane where there are stables with the same number. 

My question: is this slaughter house more likely to be what we would now call a butcher shop, where the already dressed meat is displayed and sold. If this is the case, from where would a butcher access his meat? I am not sure whether cattle would be held and slaughtered so close to a Market Place.  I can only find information about the Smithfield markets where the cattle are held and slaughtered. Thanks for your interest, Gazania

[KGarrad]

It would be a slaughterhouse rather than a butcher's shop?

Reform, due to health and safety concerns didn't arrive until the 1860's, and The Public Health Act 1875.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse

[Guy Etchells]

I agree it would be a slaughter house with the meat probably being sold on the market.
Animals used to be slaughtered as close as possible to where their meat was sold due to difficulties transporting raw meat.

Even up to the 1950/60s many butchers would have a slaughter house close to the back of their shop so that the animals bought could be slaughtered and brought to the shop fresh.
These were not vast slaughterhouses but facilities to deal with possibly one or two animals a day enough to cater for demand.

Tracability of meat and local food sourcing is very much in vogue now but in the past it was commonplace.

Cheers
Guy

[gazania]

Thank you, KGarrad and Guy for your replies.  I now see that it was a slaughter house in close proximity to the Market Place and those who lived and traded there.  I've been to the shambles in York and was struck by the narrow lanes. The handling and holding small numbers of cattle make sense although I am not sure of the population of Kingston on Thames at the time or whether there were other slaughterhouses.  The land tax record should give me some more answers.  Thank you, Gazania

[Woolweaver]

May be of interest, On Chapel st Birdwell South Yorkshire there
 were 4 butchers each one had Slaughter houses in close proximity to the shop three had farms or were connected to family farms. the slaughter houses were part of the farm buildings. they were all within 200 yards of each other. seems like country butchers grew their own meat.

[deebel]

BBC Hidden History series had a programme on Englands Oldest Butchers and it went into all the details of nimals being herded into the market and slaughtered pretty well where they stood. Main criteria for location seemed to be the importance of a slope so that the "shambles" drained effectively, although probably to the detriment of those further down the road.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03q0177

PS. I know The Shambles in York is well known but I think there is also one in Guildford. Shambles was the name of the place where animals were slaughtered hence usually adjacent to the market area

[gazania]

Thank you, Woolweaver and Deebel.  You have inspired me to investigate earlier ancestors who were also butchers.  George served an apprenticeship with his future father-in-law, James Line, who came from a long line (sorry) of butchers from Bucks.

The BBC programme could not be downloaded in OZ but I have found some youtube snippets.  Thank you for inspiring me to go into another direction.  Gazania