Danesbury Fernery

Researching and Restoring the Danesbury Victorian Fernery

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Puddingstone Identification Chart

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The following photos taken by Diana Walsh of the Puddingstone Club, show the rich variety of Puddingstone found in Hertfordshire, and some of the uses to which it has been put.

 

Large piece set in a Church Wall
One of many pieces on roadside at Perry Green
Smaller piece with missing pebbles in a Church wall
Boundary Stone in St. Albans in front of Mill Museum
Large puddingstone as War Memorial at Arkesden
Ice House at Ashridge, with puddingstone walls and roof

The Puddingstone Club

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The following Report was kindly produced by Diana Walsh.
Who We Are
The Puddingstone Club was formed in February 2016, following a visit to Hertford Museum and seeing such fine examples of the stone both there and in Hertford Castle grounds.
We are a small group of five and we research where known puddingstones are located and then plan a visit to see them and photograph them (usually followed by a nice lunch in a local pub). Over the two years we have discovered stones not just on public display but have been invited into private gardens to see them too.
Puddingstone Club Members:
Diana Walsh, Linda Dolata, Maureen Delandro and Kim Korakidis (fifth member Gill Hutchins was unable to join us).
Background to the Danesbury Fernery Visit
On visiting Danesbury Fernery with the Hertfordshire Garden Trust on April 11th 2018 , I was astonished to see how much puddingstone there was in the Fernery, dotted about amongst the impressive Pulhamite rock work.  The Leader of the Friends of Danesbury Local Nature Reserve, John Roper, explained that they had quite a pile of stone that they needed to move in the Fernery and wondered if I would like to bring my fellow enthusiasts to help identify what was puddingstone.
Our visit was bathed in sunshine which made the fernery look all the more splendid, and we were made very welcome by John and his fellow volunteers Harry and Sue.
Discoveries
Many of the pieces we saw we could agree were definitely Hertfordshire Puddingstones ; water smoothed pebbles embedded in a silicious matrix that is extremely hard.  Some larger pieces were less easy to identify having larger pebbles and with more protruding making it harder to identify.
Conclusion
Our thanks go to John and his team for sharing this very special place with us and the time they gave us.
With all best wishes and thanks,