'The Ben O'Driscoll Cotterite' - local boy's rare find celebrated
The recent discovery of a rare quartz by eight-year-old Ben O’Driscoll, an avid hurler and footballer with Killavullen GAA, is being added to the Natural History Museum’s journals.
Hailing from Rockforest near Mallow, the youngster discovered an unusual rock on the farm behind his home which was confirmed to be cotterite, a variety of quartz believed to have been found only once ever before, some 250 years ago, on the estate at Rockforest House.
Cotterite, according to the Natural History Museum, is the rarest variety of quartz on earth and was only ever found in county Cork. The first vein of cotterite was found in a 7 square metre area by Grace Cotter (after whom the mineral variety was named) in 1875, the niece of Sir James Cotter, the Baron of Rockforest and currently exists in a few pieces. This is on display at the
Natural History Museum in Dublin as well as in UCC, Cork.
Rahan National School pupil, Ben, found another piece of the elusive rock, which dates from approximately 300 million years ago, on February 17 this year at the estate. His mother, Melanie, explained that a year ago, her late father, Kieran Bolster, heard about cotterite in a post made online by the Natural History Museum.
“My dad was fiercely keen in history and in particular, local history and he mentioned the post and cotterite details to us. As we currently live on the estate of Rockforest, we decided to make a visit to the Natural History Museum to see the cotterite up close. This really ignited intrigue and excitement for us and in particular, Ben, who since then keenly had an eye out for cotterite when we were out and about on the farm,” Melanie said.
A DIAMOND?
Aged just 7 at the time of the discovery,
Ben had kept a sharp eye out when out in the garden and on the farm, having thought the cotterite he saw at the museum was ‘beautiful’.
Returning home from soccer practice on Saturday, February 17, Ben ran into the garden from the car, soccer boots and all still on and a shiny object caught his eye, located in the garden which leads into a large agricultural field which is part of the farmland at the estate.
“He said he thought it was a diamond initially! On picking it up he came running to me saying ‘ I think I found cotterite!’ I wasn’t so sure at first, I cleaned the quartz with a brush and washing up liquid! Immediately after cleaning it, I felt this was very possibly cotterite. I looked up photos of cotterite and watched the YouTube video created by the museum and Dr Patrick Roycroft. Many aspects rang true, especially that of the lamination and shape.
“We emailed the Natural Museums, sending some example pictures. We sent this email on Saturday evening February 17, and by Sunday morning, Ben's first question on waking was, ‘ Did the Museum reply yet?’ Ben was so excited that this was actually cotterite. The Natural History Museum and Prof. Roycroft replied early Monday following my email,” Melanie added.
On March 1, Ben and his family paid a visit to the Natural History Museum and met with Dr Roycroft, curator of geology where the specimen was confirmed to be the rare variety of quartz.
“On arrival, we could feel Dr Patrick’s excitement and delight from the outset, who made us all feel so welcomed together with him arranging for us to see the other specimens under a microscope. Ben has been keen to tell everyone that only 20 people have seen the cotterite under microscope, now 25!
“We are all still pinching ourselves, in disbelief almost, that Ben did indeed find a specimen,” Melanie said.
Ben, who recently turned 8, was presented with a special certificate by UCC and the Natural History Museum in recognition of his find. The certificate noted that the specimen will heretofore be known as ' The Ben O'Driscoll Cotterite'. It reads: "This specimen is the first new find, either loose or in bedrock of an undisputed cotterite specimen anywhere on Earth in the last 150 years'.
B e n ’ s great-great-grandfather, John P O’Driscoll, purchased Rockforest in 1916 from a family by the name of Copperthorn, who purchased the house and lands from the Cotters. Ben’s grandad, John O’Driscoll and his father, Brian, grew up in Rockforest House with Ben’s uncle now farming the land.