Last week, on Londonist Time Machine, Matt wrote about some the wornderful details depicted in the Balloon View illustrative map of 1851. The view is looking from North to South:
I was surprised that he hadn't made special reference to the delineating wall depicted twixt Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. This is a feature that I have been looking myself as further information when leading tour groups for The Royal Parks. I had planned to dig out and collate my research and leave a comment, but other things got in the way so I parked the idea.
First, let's zoom in on the 1951 map to show exactly what I'm talking about. A wall is depicted on three sides of Kensington Gardens with three semi-circular bastions (North, Middle and South) on the eastern side followed by Google's satellite view today for comparison:
When George II became king in 1827 he and his wife Caroline set about making their mark on his father's fusty old palace, in much the same way as Mr Tango Trumpington is currently doing with the East Wing of The White House. These important people simply want to make their mark.
Caroline was keen to create larger palace gardens by nabbing a huge chunk of Hyde Park. In 1728 she engaged the services of Charles Bridgeman, one of the foremost landscape gardeners of that time, and he created features that still endure and delight us today, such as the formal paths and vistas, the Round Pond and the Long Water.
To delineate open park from formal gardens a wall was needed and, rather than creating one above ground, thereby restricting the view from the palace by drawing a line across the landscape, Bridgeman employed a sunken wall and ditch known as a ha-ha. I think it's fair to assume that the walls along the north and south side of the park would have been above ground.
No-one has as yet come up with a good reason for where the name ha-ha derives from. It's suggested that it denotes exclamation/surprise. But this is clever, not funny. Or, perhaps, people thought it was funny when their friends accidentally fell down the ditch? Ha ha, you silly idiot!
Charles Bridgeman is often credited as being the first to create this kind of sunken wall. If that is the case, then surely he had some kind of name for it and had labelled it as such when he drew up the plan for the gardens. Or, whilst showing his designs to Queen Caroline, he might have said "here we have a bunkleditch" then, confused, she looked at the drawing and laughed favourably, and the name stuck.
I have also heard that that sunken walls of this kind were already in were in place in France before Bridgman installed this one for Caroline, which would make his the first of its type in England, "and here we have a ha-ha". But again we have woolly hearsay evidence – where in France are/were those other examples? Why has nobody indentified those locations
If it is indeed a french concoction, 'ha-ha' doesn't sound very French when you say out loud. Do French people really (also) say that when they are surprised? I suggest it might be of French origin but the name was original name sounded similar to ha-ha we have ended up with a mis-pronounced and then mis-spelled name that over time has been poorly conveyed, as per many other mis-heard foreign words that we use today.
Having noticed that modern maps make no reference of this old wall, I've dug out some older maps to see how they change over time. It's interesting to also see how many of the other features within the park come and go and how names or uses of buildings have changed. Until the Victoria era, many maps of London do not show anything West of Knightsbridge, so the earliest depiction of the ha-ha is on Bacon's map published in 1888, shown below, left:
Bacon's map shows the ha-ha as almost as an intact feature, although I cannot prove that it actually was as the time. The entrance by the fountains (strangely not annotated) is marked as Buck Hill Gate and was later changed to Marlborough/Westbourne Gate. Note also the lack of other features within both parks apart from the statue of Jenner, moved here from Trafalgar Square after Prince Albert died. The second map is Philips colourful 1892 folding map showing that the Speke memorial has been installed. The path following the edge of the ha-ha is no longer shown. West Carriage Drive was then known as The Ring, part of the circular horse riding and carriage route within Hyde Park which includes North Ride, Broad Walk, Rotten Row, etc.
On both maps, the building that was the 'Guard House' on the 1851 drawing is now marked 'Magazine' which denotes a storage facility. This could allude to a shed for garden implements but it might well be ammunition, hence a magazine of bullets, or a box or container used for anything containing lots of stuff, whether items, words or information as in a printed pamphlet. Any information about what was kept here is welcome. Today the building is a gallery and restaurant.
The next two snaps are from Ward Lock's 1935 guidebook, left, and Bartholomew's Town Plan c1945, right.
Ward Lock's 1935 map on the left shows the fountains as Water Works, yet Bartholomew labels them as The Fountains. It's interesting how similar these two maps are considering a war separates them, suggesting the two companies employed the same cartographer and Bartholomew simply rehashed the pre-war map. In both instances, a Refreshment House is shown where the South Bastion used to be (now the site of the Serpentine Gallery and seasonal pavilion). Also of interest is that Ward Lock, despite being a guide book, clearly didn't think that its readers would be interested in many well-known and long-established features within the parks such as the Peter Pan statue, the Dog Cemetery or the Bandstand.
Moving on to the 1950s...
The map on the left is from the 1951 Baedeker guidebook. It's a delightful design, attempting to mark every tree and landmark. Note that the ha-ha is shown as if it's a distinct feature on the landscape and, whilst the southern bastion is no longer visible, the wall is depicted continuing southwards past the 'Tea Rooms' to Alexandra Gate at Kensington Gore. However, there looks to be an error regarding the annotation of 'The Ring' which is placed west of the ha-ha along the footpath rather than on the road at the other side. I'm also confused by the label of Bennie's Bridge which needs further investigation. The 1953 Geographers' A-Z version on the right makes less off the ha-ha, enhances Peter Pan but omits Jenner. I wonder who they decided these omissions and inclusions.
The last two maps are also Geographers' A-Zs – the one on the left is from my hardback version, puchased in 1979 shortly after I first passed my driving test, here married with the 2001 large spiral bound cabbies' map book that sits adjacent to my desk.
The 1979 map looks friendlier in design and it shows more to see and do than the later version. It also includes the line of the ha-ha, disappeared/omitted from these maps by 2001.
That's it. I'm done.
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Thanks, Jane