Excavation unearths rare discovery at Bishop's Stortford College Prep School

The Hertfordshire Puddingstone soon after being discovered during excavation at Bishops Stortford College

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WHEN excavation work begins for a building project, you can never be too sure what lies beneath the surface, but a seemingly uninteresting lump of stone unearthed at Bishop's Stortford College Prep School has been identified as one of the world's rarest rocks.

Initially thought to be nothing more than a large piece of concrete, closer inspection confirmed the discovery was in fact a Hertfordshire Puddingstone.

Puddingstone is a conglomerate of small flint pebbles naturally cemented together by silica from sand and silt to form exceptionally hard solid rock. The name arose from its plum pudding appearance when sliced through. Formed millions of years ago by the precise conditions prevailing locally during the last Ice Age, almost all puddingstone in the world is found in Hertfordshire.

The college's estates manager John McDonagh said: "It's a fantastic discovery. Linda Hamling, the secretary of the Hertfordshire Geographical Society, was one of my first contacts when it was uncovered and she kindly gave me a lot of background information."

Now expertly cut and polished, the county's latest puddingstone discovery, which weighs about two and a half tonnes, will be displayed at the entrance of the Maze Green Road school's most recent building project.

The major development to the Prep School involves the rebuild of about a third of its accomodation in order to enhance the facilities for its 450 pupils. Catering for boys and girls aged seven to 13, the school is part of the co-educational day and boarding college's estate on its 130-acre campus.

A new larger building will house a new library, drama studio and nine classrooms, while the main Prep School building is being extended to provide a fourth science laboratory as well as a new reception area and administration offices.

Incorporated into the project is more than 25sqm of solar panels, a mixture of solar PV and solar thermal, to supply a substantial proportion of the school's electricity.

Once the extended and enhanced accomodation opens in the autumn, existing classrooms in what is known as the Meadows Building will be removed to create additional play space for the pupils and the school's second art rooms will be relocated into a larger room, where the currently library is relocated.

College headmaster Jeremy Gladwin said: "The new project is the most extensive so far undertaken at the college and will enhance significantly the facilities for our Prep School pupils. With this work nearing completion, we are already in the early stages of planning our next major project, which will focus on further developing facilities in the Senior School.

"The next five years will see the most ambitious building developments for over 100 years and will be a fitting way to mark the college's 150th anniversary in 2018."

Source: http://www.hertsandessexobserver.co.uk/News/Bishops-Stortford/Excavation-unearths-rare-discovery-at-Bishops-Stortford-College-Prep-School-20130728121134.htm

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