Hello, and alright darling
I'm in Woolwich, in south east London, and this is the historic Royal Artillery Barracks.
Built in 1776 the site is still home to british soldiers today.
It's a very serious place full of very serious people doing very serious things.
So what's it doing right next to this?
Woolwich is an area full of military history, and was famously home to the Royal Arsenal,
where 80,000 employees used to manufacture and develop weapons in a factory that was sealed off to the outside world.
In 1886 a few of the factory workers got together and started a football team,
which apparently did quite well for a few years,
but now seems to have faded into obscurity.
Meanwhile, the Barracks is just up the road.
The Royal Artillery left Woolwich in 2007, after 230 years of calling this place home,
but there are now 2 infantry battalions stationed here instead.
And perhaps inevitably with such a military presence here, the area is dotted with reminders of the consequences of conflict,
including this memorial to local soldiers who died in the Anglo-Boer War;
this memorial to Major Robert John Little, a man literally called Major Little;
this memorial to a garrison church destroyed during World War 2;
and this... garrison church destroyed during World War 2.
There are other, more recent memorials here too,
recent enough that, it didn't feel right for me to stand there filming them.
But I think you get the idea anyway:
this is army territory,
it's not a place for messing around.
(Unless specifically ordered to do so.)
This whole area is all about discipline, duty, rememberance and respect.
Except for one thing.
Here's the Woolwich Barracks on a map.
Ha-Ha Road runs along the full length of the southern side of the site,
dividing it from Woolwich Common.
But what exactly is so funny about it?
Well, it can all be explained by this.
And you don't have to be a highly trained russian spy to know that this
is a field of sheep
At the time that the Barracks was built, Woolwich Common was frequently in use as a stop over point
for livestock making their way to the markets in central London.
Now, imagine if a heard of sheep or a flock of cows accidentally wanders onto an Artillery firing range.
In the army, this is known as target practice.
But the animals and the farmers didn't quite see things the same way.
And so in the end, they dug a ditch to divide the two areas.
This style of ditch, with a slope on one side and a wall on the other, is called a "ha-ha".
The idea originally came from France, and they are a common feature in stately homes and country houses from the period.
They became popular as a way of building a protective wall around your property without spoiling your view.
The British have since adapted the idea for their own needs and requirements.
So, long story short, Ha-Ha Road got its name because it's a road and it's next to a ha-ha.
And it's not the only place named after a Ha-Ha:
You can also walk the Allée des Ha-Ha at the palace of Versailles in France;
and, for a real treat, why not visit this small town in Canada, which proudly holds the world record
for the largest number of exclamation marks in a town's name.
But that still leaves one question:
why is a ha-ha called a ha-ha?
The most likely explaination seems to be that it comes from an expression of surprise;
people would be walking in a park, come across one of these unexpectedly, and they'd go "ah! ah!".
Another theory is that it comes from people laughing when they saw someone else fall in.
Of course, you can make your own minds up, but personally I don't think there's anything funny
about someone falling in
Right, how am I going to explain how this traffic cone ended up there?