The
Ha-ha is an expression in garden design that refers to a
trench-Agriculture:Trenches have long been used to carry water. Trenches can be used for draining purposes, leading water away from a swamp or wetland that is to be dried out. Likewise they can be used for irrigation purposes, directing water into dry areas...
, the inner side of which is vertical and faced with stone, with the outer face sloped and
turfSod or turf is grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, or a piece of this material.The term sod may be used to mean turf grown and cut specifically for the establishment of lawns...
ed, making the trench, in effect, a sunken
fenceA fence is a freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary. It is generally distinguished from a wall by the lightness of its construction: a wall is usually restricted to such barriers made from solid brick or concrete, blocking vision as well as passage .Fences...
or
retaining wallA retaining wall is a structure that holds back soil or rock from a building, structure or area. Retaining walls prevent downslope movement or erosion and provide support for vertical or near-vertical grade changes. Cofferdams and bulkheads, structures that hold back water, are sometimes also...
. The ha-ha is designed not to interrupt the view from a
gardenA garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form is known as a residential garden. Western gardens are almost universally...
, pleasure-ground, or
parkA park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment. It may consist of, rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas....
, and to be invisible until seen from close by.
The ha-ha consorted well with Chinese gardening ideas of concealing barriers with nature, but its European origins are earlier than the European discovery of Chinese gardening.
The
Ha-ha is an expression in garden design that refers to a
trench-Agriculture:Trenches have long been used to carry water. Trenches can be used for draining purposes, leading water away from a swamp or wetland that is to be dried out. Likewise they can be used for irrigation purposes, directing water into dry areas...
, the inner side of which is vertical and faced with stone, with the outer face sloped and
turfSod or turf is grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, or a piece of this material.The term sod may be used to mean turf grown and cut specifically for the establishment of lawns...
ed, making the trench, in effect, a sunken
fenceA fence is a freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary. It is generally distinguished from a wall by the lightness of its construction: a wall is usually restricted to such barriers made from solid brick or concrete, blocking vision as well as passage .Fences...
or
retaining wallA retaining wall is a structure that holds back soil or rock from a building, structure or area. Retaining walls prevent downslope movement or erosion and provide support for vertical or near-vertical grade changes. Cofferdams and bulkheads, structures that hold back water, are sometimes also...
. The ha-ha is designed not to interrupt the view from a
gardenA garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form is known as a residential garden. Western gardens are almost universally...
, pleasure-ground, or
parkA park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment. It may consist of, rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas....
, and to be invisible until seen from close by.
Origins
The ha-ha consorted well with Chinese gardening ideas of concealing barriers with nature, but its European origins are earlier than the European discovery of Chinese gardening. The ha-ha is a feature in the
landscape gardenThe term landscape garden is often used to describe the English garden design style characteristic of the eighteenth century, particularly with the work of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. The term was not however used to any great extent during the eighteenth century...
s laid out by
Charles BridgemanCharles Bridgeman was an English garden designer in the onset of the naturalistic landscape style. Although he was a key figure in the transition of English garden design from the Anglo-Dutch formality of patterned parterres and avenues to a freer style that incorporated formal, structural and...
, the originator of the ha-ha, according to Horace Walpole (Walpole 1780) and by
William KentWilliam Kent was an eminent English architect, landscape architect and furniture designer of the early 18th century.-Education:...
and was an essential component of the "swept" views of
Capability BrownLancelot Brown , more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. He is remembered as "the last of the great English eighteenth-century artists to be accorded his due", and "England's greatest gardener". He designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure...
.
- "The contiguous ground of the park without the sunk fence was to be harmonized with the lawn within; and the garden in its turn was to be set free from its prim regularity, that it might assort with the wilder country without. "
Walpole was unaware that the technical innovation had been presented in
Dezallier d'ArgenvilleThe family of Dezallier d'Argenville produced two writers and connoisseurs in the course of the eighteenth century.Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville , avocat to the Parlement de Paris and secretary to the king, was a connoisseur of gardening who laid out two for himself and his family, before...
's
La theorie et la pratique du jardinage (1709), which had been translated into English by the architect John James (1712): Sunken ditches were also features of deer parks in England from Norman times onwards. For example, between Dover and Canterbury there is a farm, Parkside Farm, which takes its name from a deer park established by Bishop Odo, the brother of William the Conqueror, where remnants of the ditch still survive.
- "Grills of iron are very necessary ornaments in the lines of walks, to extend the view, and to shew the country to advantage. At present we frequently make thoroughviews, call'd Ah, Ah, which are openings in the walls, without grills, to the very level of the walks, with a large and deep ditch at the foot of them, lined on both sides to sustain the earth, and prevent the getting over; which surprises the eye upon coming near it, and makes one cry, Ah! Ah! from whence it takes its name. This sort of opening is haha, on some occasions, to be preferred, for that it does not at all interrupt the prospect, as the bars of a grill do."
Walpole surmised that the name is derived from the response of ordinary folk on encountering them and that they were, "...then deemed so astonishing, that the common people called them Ha! Ha's! to express their surprise at finding a sudden and unperceived check to their walk."
During his excavations at
IonaIona is a small island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland that has an important place in the history of Christianity in Scotland and is renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty...
in the period 1964 - 1974, Richard Reece discovered an 18th-century ha-ha, built to protect the abbey from cattle; purely functional, rather than part of landscape design.
Double-sided
An interesting variation is the ha-ha that faces both ways (and is a barrier to animals in both directions). It also has the effect of hiding the wall when viewed from both the Hall and from the Approaches of
Melford HallMelford Hall is a stately home in the village of Long Melford, Suffolk, England. It is the ancestral seat of the Parker family.The Hall is a mostly 16th century building, incorporating parts of a medieval building held by the Abbots of Bury St Edmunds which had been in use since before 1065. Since...
.
Examples
Most typically ha-has are still found in the grounds of grand country houses and estates and act as a means of keeping the cattle and sheep in the pastures and out of the formal gardens, without the need for obtrusive fencing. They vary in depth from about 2 feet (Horton House) to 9 feet (
PetworthPetworth is a small town and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 east-west road from Heathfield to Winchester and the A283 Milford to Shoreham-by-Sea road. Some twelve miles to the south west of Petworth along the A285 road...
).
An unusually long example is the Ha-Ha separating the
Royal ArtilleryThe Royal Artillery is the common name for the Royal Regiment of Artillery, an arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
Barrack Field from
Woolwich CommonWoolwich Common is an area of military land located to the south of the town centre of Woolwich in South East London England.It is bounded on the south side by the A207 Shooter's Hill Road, and on the east by Academy Road that the former Royal Military Academy fronts. Situated to the west is the...
in South-East London. This deep Ha-Ha was installed in or about 1774 to prevent sheep and cattle, grazing on Woolwich Common as a stopover on their journey to the London meat markets, wandering onto the Royal Artillery gunnery range. A rare feature of this East-West Ha-Ha is that the normally hidden brick wall emerges above ground for its final 70 or so meters as the land falls away to the West, revealing a very fine batter to the brickwork face of the so exposed wall - this final West section of the Ha-Ha forms the boundary of the Gatehouse http://www.largeassociates.com/gatehouse.htm by
James WyattJames Wyatt RA , was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.-Early classical career:...
RA. The Royal Artillery Ha-Ha is maintained in a very good state of preservation by the
Ministry of DefenceThe Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
, it is a
Listed Building, and it accompanied by Ha-Ha Road than runs alongside its full length. There is a shorter Ha-Ha in the grounds of the nearby
JacobeanThe Jacobean style is the name given to the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated....
Charlton HouseAmong several English houses with the name Charlton House, the most prominent is a Jacobean building in Charlton, London. It is regarded as the best-preserved ambitious Jacobean house in Greater London. It was built in 1607-12 of red brick with stone dressing, and has an "E"-plan layout...
and, perhaps suggesting that the art of Ha-Haing is not entirely lost, there is an example of a Ha Ha type wall nearby
Severndroog CastleSeverndroog Castle is a folly situated in Oxleas Wood, on Shooter's Hill in south-east London in the London Borough of Greenwich. It was designed by architect Richard Jupp in 1784....
in
Oxleas WoodOxleas Wood is one of the few remaining areas of ancient deciduous forest in the London Borough of Greenwich in southeast London, dating back over 8,000 years...
, constructed with what seems to be World War II bomb damage brickwork.
Ha-has were also used at Victorian Era lunatic asylums such as
Yarra Bend AsylumYarra Bend Asylum was the first permanent institution established in Victoria that was devoted to the treatment of the mentally ill. It opened in 1848 as a ward of the Asylum at Tarban Creek in New South Wales. It was not officially called Yarra Bend Asylum until July 1851 when the Port Phillip...
and
Kew Lunatic AsylumKew Lunatic Asylum is a decommissioned psychiatric hospital located between Princess Street and Yarra Boulevard in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Operational from 1871 to 1988, Kew was one of the largest asylums ever built in Australia. Later known as Willsmere, the complex of buildings...
in Australia. From the inside, the walls presented a tall face to patients, preventing them from escaping, while from outside the walls looked low so as not to suggest imprisonment. Kew Asylum has been redeveloped as apartments however some of the ha-has remain, albeit partially filled in.
A recent use of a ha-ha is at the
Washington MonumentThe Washington Monument is an obelisk near the west end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate the first U.S. president, General George Washington. The monument, made of marble, granite, and sandstone, is both the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest...
to minimize the visual impact of security measures. After
9-11The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners...
and another unrelated terror threat at the monument, authorities had put up unsightly
jersey barrierA Jersey barrier or Jersey wall separates lanes of traffic with a goal of minimizing vehicle crossover in the case of accidents...
s to restrict cars from approaching the monument. The new one-sided ha-ha, a low 0.76 m (30-inch) granite stone wall that doubles as a seating bench and also incorporates lighting, received the 2005 Park/Landscape Award of Merit.
In fiction
In the
Terry PratchettSir Terence David John Pratchett, OBE , more commonly known as Terry Pratchett, is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
DiscworldDiscworld is a comedic fantasy book series by the British author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....
novel
Men at ArmsMen at Arms is the 15th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett first published in 1993. It is the second novel about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch on the Discworld. Lance-constable Angua von Überwald, later in the series promoted to the rank of Sergeant, is introduced in this book...
, a similar landscape boundary is used in the palatial grounds. This particular implementation has a comedic twist: designed by ill-famed engineer Bergholt Stuttley Johnson, the ha-ha is accidentally specified to be 50 feet deep, is called a hoho, and is reported to have claimed the lives of 3 gardeners.
In Pratchett's book with
Neil GaimanNeil Richard Gaiman is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, audio theatre, and films. His notable works include The Sandman comic series, Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
,
Good OmensGood Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is a World Fantasy Award nominated novel written in collaboration between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman....
during a gun battle at an old English country house a character in the book is said to be laying face down in the ha-ha, but not to be very amused by it.
Jane Austen liberally mentions the ha-ha in
Mansfield ParkMansfield Park may mean:* Mansfield Park by Jane Austen* Mansfield Park , based on the novel, directed by Patricia Rozema, starring Frances O'Connor, Embeth Davidtz, and Sheila Gish in 1999...
during the scenes touring Mr Rushworth's estate, Sotherton.