The ha-ha or sunken fence is a type of boundary to a garden, pleasure-ground, or park, designed not to interrupt the view and to be invisible until seen from close by. A ha-ha consists of a trench, the inner side of which is vertical and faced with stone, with the outer slope face sloped and turfed, making the trench, in effect, a sunken fence or wall.
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[edit]Origins
The ha-ha is a feature in the landscape gardens laid out by Charles Bridgeman, the originator of the ha-ha, according to Horace Walpole (Walpole 1780) and by William Kent and was an essential component of the "swept" views of Capability Brown.
- "The contiguous ground of the park without the sunk fence Link title 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. "[1]
Walpole was unaware that the technical innovation had been presented in Dezallier d'Argenville'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 Iona 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.[2]
The Ha-Ha fence was inspired by Orientalism and the Japanese gardening ideas of concealing barriers with nature.
[edit]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 ofMelford Hall.
[edit]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 (Petworth).
An unusually long example is the Ha-Ha separating the Royal Artillery Barrack Field from Woolwich Common in South-East London (SE19). 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 [[1]] by James Wyatt RA. The Royal Artillery Ha-Ha is maintained in a very good state of preservation by the Ministry of Defence, 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 Jacobean Charlton House.
Ha-has were also used at Victorian Era lunatic asylums such as Yarra Bend Asylum and Kew Lunatic Asylum 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.[3] 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 Monument to minimize the visual impact of security measures. After 9-11 and another unrelated terror threat at the monument, authorities had put up unsightly jersey barriers 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.[4][5]
[edit]Gallery
[edit]United Kingdom
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[edit]Australia
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