Hertfordshire Puddingstone
Located near the Visitor Centre you can find a fine example of a Hertfordshire Puddingstone, which as the name implies, can only be found in Hertfordshire and loosely resembles a fruit pudding!
We understand from John Ely (the first Highfield Park Director) that the Puddingstone was once located within Cell Barnes Hospital grounds, around the Church Croft area. Its location may even be shown on one of the old hospital layout plans.
It seems likely that the puddingstone was found during the hospital’s construction. Highfield Park Trust relocated it (along with its label) into the park with the agreement of the hospital manager so that that it would be preserved as a feature.
The road names in the new housing developments were decided by the local authority – many roads were named after former hospital wards or past doctors.
However we believe John Ely may have mentioned the Puddingstone during the street naming process, so we think he deserves the credit for suggesting the name of Puddingstone Drive.
Some links for further reading:
Wikipedia page with more info on Hertfordshire puddingstone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertfordshire puddingstone
If you are interested in Geology or local history we have attached some pdf scans of some documents that you might like to have a look at.
Hertfordshire Puddingstone – its origins formation and mythology St Albans Museums 1978
Hertfordshire Puddingstone information sheet no 2. St Albans City Museum 1980