Campaigners have launched an appeal to save the original Bramley apple tree, the mother of perhaps the world's most popular cooking apple, for the nation. The tree, which grows in the garden of a cottage in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, is for sale after its owner, Nottingham Trent University, put the property on the market.
Planted from a pip by a young girl, Mary Ann Brailsford, in the early 19th century, every Bramley apple ever eaten can be traced back to this single tree. Despite being recognised as one of the 50 most important historic trees in Britain, it currently has no legal protection.
The campaign, which aims to crowdfund £250,000 towards the purchase price of the cottage, seeks to turn it into a heritage centre with public access. It is supported by artist Dan Llywelyn Hall, musician Cerys Matthews, and Celia Stevens, the great granddaughter of Henry Merryweather, the horticulturist who first commercialised the apple in 1876.
Stevens described the tree, which is still fruiting at over 200 years old despite attacks by honey fungus, as 'a special tree'. She noted its commercial viability after more than 150 years and its global reach, including a Bramley fan club in Japan. The tree has been cloned, with an offspring planted last month at Anne Hathaway's cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon.
