The primary view is from the right and the barrier created by the ha-ha becomes invisible from that direction and sometimes from both directions, unless close to the trench

Ha-ha is a term in garden design that refers to a trench, one side of which is concealed from view, designed to allow an unobstructed view from a garden, pleasure ground, or park, while maintaining a physical barrier in one direction, usually to keep livestock out that are kept on an expansive estate or parcel.^[1] It also may be used to mean a ditch, one side of which is vertical and faced with stone, the other face sloped and turfed, making the trench, in effect, a retaining wall, sometimes known as a "deer leap".^[2]

Before the advent of mechanical lawnmowers a commonly used way to keep grass trimmed was to allow livestock, usually sheep, to graze; a ha-ha allowed them to feed on the grounds of large estates while keeping them off the lawn and gardens adjoining the house without a visible barrier and allowing an unobstructed vista from the house and gardens.^[3][4][5]

Origins [link]

Ha-ha at the Hameau de la Reine, Versailles.

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.^[6]

The basic design of sunken ditches is of ancient origins, being a feature of deer parks in England from Norman times onward. For example, between Dover and Canterbury in Parkside Farm, which takes its name from a deer park established by Bishop Odo, the brother of William the Conqueror, remnants of the ditch still survive. During his excavations at Iona in the period 1964–1974, Richard Reece discovered an 18th-century ha-ha to protect the abbey from cattle.^[7]

In its modern form, the concept and term are of French origin, with the term being attested in toponyms in New France from 1686 (as seen in modern times in Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!), and being a feature of the gardens of the Château de Meudon, circa 1700. The technical innovation was presented in Dezallier d'Argenville's La theorie et la pratique du jardinage (1709), which was translated into English by the architect John James (1712):

"Grills of iron are very necessary ornaments in the lines of walks, to extend the view, and to show the country to advantage. At present we frequently make thoroughviews, called 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 laugh, Ha! Ha! from where 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."

In Britain, the ha-ha is a feature in landscape gardens laid out by Charles Bridgeman and by William Kent. The device was an essential component of the "swept" views of Capability Brown. Horace Walpole credits Bridgeman with the invention of the haha (Walpole 1780), but he was unaware of the earlier French origins.

"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."^[8]

Look up haha in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The etymology of the term is generally given as being an expression of surprise – “ha ha” or “ah! ah!” is exclaimed on encountering such a feature. This is the explanation given in French, where it is traditionally attributed to Louis, Grand Dauphin, on encountering such features at Meudon, by d'Argenville (trans. James), above, and by Walpole, who 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! Has! to express their surprise at finding a sudden and unperceived check to their walk."

Additional usage: ice houses [link]

Ice houses are sometimes found built into ha-ha walls because they provide a very subtle entrance way that allows the ice house as a structure to be less intrusive.^[9]

Examples [link]

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 (0.6 m) (Horton House) to 9 feet (2.7 m) (Petworth).

Remnants of an 18th century ha-ha at the former estate in Milton, Massachusetts of Governor Thomas Hutchinson

Ha-has were used in North America as well. Only two are believed to remain in Canada, one of which is on the grounds of Nova Scotia's Uniacke House (1813), a rural estate built by Richard John Uniacke, an Irish-born Attorney-General of Nova Scotia.

An unusually long example is the ha-ha separating the Royal Artillery Barrack Field from Woolwich Common in southeast London. This deep ha-ha was installed around 1774 to prevent sheep and cattle, grazing on Woolwich Common as a stopover on their journey to the London meat markets, from 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 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^[10] by James Wyatt RA. The Royal Artillery Ha-Ha is maintained in a good state of preservation by the Ministry of Defence, it is a Listed Building, and is accompanied by Ha-Ha Road that runs alongside its full length. There is a shorter ha-ha in the grounds of the nearby Jacobean Charlton House and, perhaps suggesting that the art of employing ha-has is not entirely lost, there is an example of a similar wall nearby Severndroog Castle in Oxleas Wood, 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 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.^[11] 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 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.^[12][13]

In fiction [link]

• In the Terry Pratchett Discworld novel Men at Arms, a similar landscape boundary is used for 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 three gardeners.^[14] In Pratchett's book with Neil Gaiman, Good Omens during a gun battle at an old English country house a character in the book is said to be lying face down in the ha-ha, but not to be very amused by it
• In The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells, a "steep-walled gap" on the island is compared to "the ha-ha of an English park"
• Edward Gorey's The Awdrey-Gore Legacy, a satire on overcomplicated murder mysteries, ha-ha is one of the typical places where the body of a murder victim might be found
• In Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, the ha-ha is discussed in relation to the Capability Brown garden and is used as one of the links between the nineteenth and twentieth century characters
• In Jane Austen's Mansfield Park a ha-ha prevents the more sensible characters from getting around a locked gate and into the woodland beyond.

Gallery [link]

United Kingdom [link]

• Hahafront.JPG

  The front of a ha-ha, still blending in well into the surroundings at Castle Ashby, England.

• Overhaha.jpg

  From the rear, the ha-ha is fully invisible (same structure as previous, laid out by Capability Brown).

• 

  View of the Chirk Castle ha-ha found in Denbighshire, North Wales.

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  Old ha-ha at the Lainshaw estate in Stewarton, Ayrshire, Scotland.

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  Ha-ha in front of the Royal Crescent, Bath

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  Ha-ha, Hanbury Hall, Worcestershire

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  The Ha-ha, at Titsey Place, Oxted, Surrey

Australia [link]

• 

  An example of the ha-ha variation used at Yarra Bend Asylum in Victoria, Australia, circa 1900.

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  Partially filled in ha-ha inside the former Kew Lunatic Asylum

See also [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ha-has

• Moat
• Cattle guard

References [link]