Thank you Val for telling us about this today!
The Bramley apple originated in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England. In 1809, a young girl named Mary Ann Brailsford planted apple pips in a flowerpot, and the surviving seedling was later moved to her garden. Decades later, local butcher Matthew Bramley owned the property and allowed a nurseryman to take cuttings, naming the variety after himself.
The Discovery and Naming
- The Planter: Mary Ann Brailsford planted the original pip as a child, but she moved away and never knew the fame her tree would achieve.
- The Butcher: Matthew Bramley bought the cottage with the mature tree in 1846.
- The Nurseryman: Henry Merryweather asked for cuttings of the unusual, large fruit in the 1850s.
- The Condition: Bramley agreed to share cuttings on the sole condition that the new cultivar bear his name.
Commercial Success
- First Sale: The first Bramley's Seedling trees were sold commercially in 1862.
- Awards: The variety won high praise at the Royal Horticultural Society in the late 19th century.
- The Mother Tree: The original tree survived a severe storm that blew it over in the early 1900s, re-rooting itself to keep producing fruit more than 200 years later.
