sunk fence

noun

a wall or other barrier set in a ditch to divide lands without marring the landscape.

sunk fence

a ditch, one side of which is made into a retaining wall so as to enclose an area of land while remaining hidden in the total landscape Also calledha-ha

First recorded in 1755–65

In the garden stood Rose, on the edge of the sunk fence dividing the Rectory domain from the cornfield.

Close by was the sunk fence and the tiny rustic bridge—only a plank or two—which spanned it.

He had come to her as usual from out the gloom, just as she was about to cross the little bridge which spanned the sunk fence.

Its garden surrounded by a sunk fence could be seen, and the figure of a lady walking in it.

There she made for a huge oak, which gloomed in the moonlight by the sunk fence parting the grounds.

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