IThis is probably the mother tree of the most popular cooking apples in the world. But the original Bramley apple was ignored and banned from public view, according to descendants of the gardener who discovered it.
A 220-year-old apple tree is still bearing fruit in the garden of a cottage in the Nottinghamshire village of Southwell, which hosts an annual festival celebrating Bramley apples on Saturday.
But Celia Stevens, the great-granddaughter of Henry Merryweather, who first discovered the potential of a unique hybrid apple, says the tree is being ignored by the cottage garden’s owners, Nottingham Trent University. speak
Stevens said the tree is surrounded by nettles and is infested with honey bees, a pathogen that gradually kills old trees.
“When the university purchased the cottage, we felt that it was important for the university to be able to take care of this tree and for the public to understand its significance and what it represents. “I thought it was great,” she says. “But it’s surrounded by nettles and I also saw some oak mushrooms when I was allowed to visit. It’s a small garden and the surrounding area is this wonderful tree and what it does for our country. It doesn’t reflect what you’ve done.”
The garden cottage, purchased by Nottingham Trent University in 2018, is used as student accommodation and there is no public access to enjoy the trees.
Artist Dan Llywelyn-Hall painted this tree and sold prints of the painting to raise money and give the university an endowment to pay for tree maintenance programs and increase public access. I plan to.
He said: “It’s scary that it’s not open to the public. The university keeps saying the tree will die soon and won’t last another year, but the tree is in great condition and is still producing fruit. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it, but it is in a very neglected and unloved condition.The surrounding gardens are in a terrible state.
Every Bramley apple ever eaten can be traced back to a tree planted from seed by a young girl, Mary Ann Brailsford, in the early 19th century. Mr. Brailsford left home after his marriage and never lived to see the fame of Bramley Apple.
This apple was discovered and first sold by Merryweather in 1876 and named after Matthew Brumley, who later became the owner of the house and tree.
Merryweather succeeded in producing more Bramley apples by grafting from the original tree. Known affectionately as the ‘King of Covent Garden’, Bramley is the UK’s only cooking apple that is available all year round and is loved by cooks for its natural acidity.
At the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002, the tree was listed as one of 50 ‘Great Britain’s Trees’ as part of the National Heritage Site. For the Platinum Jubilee in 2022, Bramley is one of 70 ancient trees dedicated to the Queen.
Llewellyn Hall’s newly unveiled painting ‘Mother Bramley’s Swan Song’ will be on display at Southwell Minster during the Bramley Apple Festival. To help save the trees, you can purchase prints from our crowdfunding page.
A spokesperson for Nottingham Trent University said: “The University is very proud to be the custodian of the original Bramley Apple tree and recognizes its importance to the local and wider community. When NTU became custodian , this tree was dying from an incurable oak fungus infection and had already exceeded its natural life span by a considerable period of time.
“Nevertheless, the tree still bears fruit and the university continues to care diligently to extend its lifespan…Although the tree is in a private garden managed by the university, we do not intend to make it available to the public. We are open to the public on request and for events such as the annual Heritage Open Day and the Bramley Apple Festival. ”
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5 rare apple varieties
of bloody cultivator
The secret to apple success is a good origin story. This historic variety was first described in 1883 and is said to have grown from a bag of apples stolen by a cultivator who was shot for theft. The resulting saplings were probably saved and nurtured by fellow workers. It sounds too perfect to be true, especially when that apple is naturally colored a bright blood red.
kent flowers
This ancient variety – a red cooking apple comparable to Bramley – came from Isaac Newton’s apple tree. Newton probably developed his theory of gravity after seeing an apple fall from a tree outside his window at Woolsthorpe House in Lincolnshire. Despite being toppled by a storm in 1820, the tree has regenerated from its original roots and numerous descendants and clones have been found around the world, especially within universities.
of Virgie apple
Residents of Ynys Enri had been enjoying the fruit of the small Welsh island’s knobby tree for generations until it was discovered by holidaying fruit expert Ian Sturrock. This apple was examined by experts and declared the rarest variety in the world when cuttings were taken from the tree the following spring to produce more fruit. Famous for its lemon-like aroma and flavor, Virgy apples may be the remnants of orchards grown by monks who migrated to the sacred island more than 1,000 years ago.
of Bastard fox’s help
This variety is a small cider apple native to Herefordshire. It sounds like a hoax on the internet, but it is cataloged in Herefordshire Pomona (1878-1884). A small, round apple, with smooth, shiny skin washed with bright red and dark stripes on its sun-kissed face. The origin of the name is unknown.
Roger Deakin’s Kazakh Apples
Roger Deakin is co-founder of the charity Common Ground, which launched Apple Day in 1990 to celebrate thousands of local heritage apple varieties, many of which have a unique taste. It was endangered by the lack of supermarket fruit. On a trip to Kazakhstan to research the wild ancestors of all cultivated apples, he pocketed some seeds belonging to the Ur apple. Mars Sibercy. A tree potted by Deakin and rescued by his successors after his death was planted in a garden in Cambridge by his friend Robert MacFarlane, where it continues to bear fruit.
