A campaign has been launched to save the original Bramley apple tree, the mother of one of the world's most popular cooking apples, for the nation. The tree, planted from a pip by a young girl named Mary Ann Brailsford in the early 19th century, grows in the garden of a cottage in Southwell, Nottinghamshire. The cottage has been put on the market by its owner, Nottingham Trent University, prompting fears that the 220-year-old tree could fall into private hands with no public access.
Every single Bramley apple ever eaten can be traced back to this tree, which has been recognised as one of the 50 most important historic trees in Britain. However, it currently has no legal protection. Campaigners are now seeking to raise funds to buy the property and turn it into a heritage centre, ensuring the tree remains accessible to the public.
Artist Leads the Charge
Dan Llywelyn Hall, an artist who has painted the mother tree many times and is one of the founders of the campaign, emphasised the significance of saving it. 'Saving this tree for the nation sends a much wider message about preserving our ancient heritage trees and appreciating them like any cultural asset,' he said. 'If we can buy paintings for museums for gargantuan sums, why can’t we see these natural wonders as equals and give them due reverence, care and dignity? It would be a great travesty and a national embarrassment to lose this opportunity.'
Support from Notable Figures
The campaign, which aims to crowdfund £250,000 towards the purchase price of the cottage, has garnered support from musician Cerys Matthews and Celia Stevens, the great granddaughter of Henry Merryweather. Merryweather was the horticulturist who first spotted the potential of the unique hybrid apple and sold the first Bramley apples in 1876, naming them after Matthew Bramley, a later owner of the house and tree.
Merryweather grew grafts from the original tree, successfully producing more Bramley apples. Nicknamed the 'King of Covent Garden', the Bramley became the only British cooking apple available all year round, prized for its natural acidity by cooks.
A Remarkable Survivor
Stevens noted that the original tree has survived attacks by honey fungus and continues to fruit and send forth vigorous new shoots amid some dead branches. 'Although it is in its senior years, it is pretty unique for an apple tree to be alive and in blossom when it is well over 200 years old,' she said. 'It is the finest culinary apple this country has ever produced, and still commercially viable, which is remarkable in its own right.'
The tree has been cared for and propped up by Nottingham Trent University, which has used the cottage as a halls of residence since buying it in 2018. The campaign to buy the cottage and create a heritage centre is supported by a local business that would manage accommodation for tourists and Bramley enthusiasts within the cottage.
Global Impact
The tree has been cloned, and last month Stevens attended a special planting of one of its offspring in the garden of Anne Hathaway’s cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon, also attended by Bramley fans from Japan. Bramley plantations still produce apples for cooking and cider-making worldwide.
'How many things are still commercially viable after more than 150 years?' added Stevens. 'It’s a pretty good record and the Bramley has earned our respect for what it’s given this country. It’s a special tree, and we’re no good without trees. It would be lovely if the public knew more about it.'
