Local to the Core: Stamford’s Orchards
Stamford Community Orchard Group is working hard to ensure the continuation of our local heritage varieties and to provide everyone with the resources and knowledge needed to celebrate a traditional fruit that’s English to the very core
The John Keats’ poem, To Autumn, ably describes how ‘the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness conspires with the maturing sun to fill the fruit on the moss’d cottage trees with ripeness to the core.’
If proof is needed that such idyllic autumn values are still evident, you need only enjoy a visit to Stamford’s Community Orchard Group’s site on the town’s Christ Church Close where you’ll find no fewer than 20 varieties of apple, plus pears and plums tumbling from the boughs of the group’s trees.
The group was established in 2000 and as it celebrates its 25th anniversary, with Adam Cade, as its current secretary. The group is going from strength to strength, with its mailing list of over 300 people and a team of 20 at its core (pun intended).
Stamford Community Orchard Group (SCOG) aims to promote apples and orchards in the area, and to champion local heritage varieties established in Stamford and Rutland which, without support, will fall into obscurity at the very least, and extinction eventually.
Today, SCOG is committed to helping others to establish community orchards, and to lending their expertise in teaching others how to establish trees by grafting, as well as offering workshops on subjects like pruning and scything.
“We hold bi-monthly meetings and host free events throughout the year including this month’s Apple Day at Stamford Arts Centre, recent Apple Pressing event held in Ketton, an annual Wassail, which takes place in January, or our Orchard Blossom Day held in April,” says Adam.
The group has somewhere in the region of 400 grafted heritage variety trees too, available to locals seeking to establish their own orchards or just a few trees in their garden, with 4ft apple, pear, plum and gauge trees available in return for a donation to SCOG.
If you’re struggling to identify the particular variety of apple growing in your garden, that may be because in Britain there is somewhere in the region of 3,000 named varieties, and over 25,000 varieties worldwide.
For context, there are ‘only’ 700 named varieties of cheese produced in Britain, compared to thousands of apple varieties, so we should be enjoying lots of different varieties of native apples, but sadly, that’s not the case.
Over 90% of British consumers have purchased apples over the past year and the market is worth £977m. Predictably, Tesco is the biggest retailer of apples with their 27% market share, closely followed by Sainsbury’s Aldi and Lidl, then Waitrose.
As a country, though, and despite our voracious consumption, we still grow less than 40% of the apples we consume in Britain. British Apples & Pears, the fruit’s trade body, aims to increase that to 60% by 2035, but more support from consumers is needed as Tesco sold 26,705 tonnes of British apples in 2023/2024… that’s about 192m apples, most of which are imported.
What’s more, Gala is the leading variety of British apple, with 4m trees in the country, 1,655 hectares of orchards established with Gala, and a 30% market share for the variety. Gala originated in New Zealand in the 1930s and was introduced into Britain from 1965.
Braeburn is the most commonly consumed British apple variety, accounting for 11% of all British apples, followed by Bramley and Jazz at 7%, each and Cox at 5%. Some varieties, such as Pink Lady and Cameo, each with a 2% share of the market for British apples, are even registered trademarks.
Stamford Community Orchard Group aims to promote local varieties such as Stamford and Rutland’s Lord Burghley, Allington Pippin, and Brown’s Seedling.
Some of the heritage varieties date back to the Tudor era, although apple grafting – the process by which you take a cutting from an apple variety and graft it on to a desirable rootstock – has been practised for centuries before this. The process was formerly documented by William Lawson in his 1618 book A New Orchard and Garden, but grafting became more widespread in Britain in the 1800s with a rise in commercial nurseries and increased competition from European and American imports, as well as the rise of colonial fruit varieties.
“Stamford’s apple production peaked around the 1850s,” says Adam. “The town once
had many acres of land – orchards which now have houses on them – dedicated to producing apples, as local soils had decent drainage characteristics, and there were good transport links to move fruit around.”
Richard Brown’s nursery at Wothorpe opened in April 1830 and grew to eight acres, with a shop opening on Ironmonger Street and a seed warehouse on St Peter’s Street following.
His sons William and James took over the business and opened Wharflands’ Nursery Ground in Oakham. By the time of their father’s retirement in 1871, Richard Brown had built up a successful reputation as a seedsman and award-winning nurseryman.
Brown popularised many varieties of apple such as Barnack Beauty, Schoolmaster and Peasgood’s Nonsuch as well as the eponymous Brown’s Seedling. The business continued in until 1985 with nursery sites in Stamford, Wothorpe and Peterborough as well as shops in Grantham, Peterborough and Oundle. One of the company’s catalogues has over 44 varieties of heritage apples available from stock.
As well as its orchard on Christ Church Close, SCOG created an additional orchard on the Burghley Estate’s Hudd’s Mill working with Head Forester Peter Glassey.
The site opened in January 2023 and covers two acres. The group also opened the King’s Coronation Orchard on Stamford’s Churchill Road as one of 33 authorities awarded funding which allowed it to create a total of 21 community orchards across the district.
Schools and other community groups have established their own trees with the help of Stamford Community Orchard Group.
Apple Day on 4th October will attract around 1,200 people and will also prove useful for locals who have an apple tree in their garden whose provenance is proving elusive. The group’s Denis Smith is an apple guru, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of varieties if your apples are in the midst of an identity crisis.
As autumn approaches, windfall apples are a vital food source for birds, whilst harvested apples can be stored for a month or two in a cool place ready for pies and crumbles.
If your use of apples extends to making apple juice or cider, SCOG also has a milling and pressing equipment available to borrow, ensuring that as well as winter puddings, you can create your own scrumpy to enjoy all winter long. The group’s Apple Pressing event last month will result in lots of lovely warm cider ready for Wassail in January.
Finally, SCOG will host its Stamford and Rutland Orchards Tour on 17th September, with locations and times all found on the group’s website.
“Apples are a much-loved part of the English countryside and we’re privileged to live in a part of the world where we can celebrate them and protect our most venerable varieties,” says Adam. “We’re looking forward to a good harvest, an enjoyable Apple Day, and merriment at our Wassail in January!”
Local Apple Varieties
Over the centuries, Stamford’s nurserymen developed a remarkable range of orchard fruits, many intended for our own county but others destined for wider acclaim. The Stamford area alone can lay claim to at least 44 distinct apple varieties, most introduced during the second half of the nineteenth century by three remarkable figures: Robert Brown, founder of a Stamford nursery; Richard Gilbert, head gardener at Burghley House; and Thomas Laxton of Tinwell, a renowned horticulturist who corresponded with Charles Darwin about plant breeding. Of this bounty, only six varieties (Allington Pippin, Brown’s Seedling, Lord Burghley, Barnack Beauty, Schoolmaster and Peasgood’s Nonsuch remain available from apple aficionados such as SCOG.
Richard Gilbert, in particular, delighted in naming his varieties after Stamford landmarks, such as St Mary’s Street and The Post Office. Laxton later moved to Bedford, continuing his work and producing celebrated cultivars like Laxton’s Superb and Laxton’s Fortune.
Barnack Beauty: First raised around 1840 in the village of Barnack, this late-season dual-purpose apple was introduced by Brown’s nursery circa 1870. It produces striking blossom, red-flushed fruit, and a crisp, juicy texture. Noted for its ability to thrive on alkaline soils, it crops heavily and keeps well: an enduring favourite across the East of England.
Lord Burghley: Originating in 1834 at Burghley House and introduced in 1865, this Victorian winter dessert apple was prized for its ability to keep until May, an invaluable trait before refrigeration. Its flavour is sweet, its texture crisp, and it stands as a testament to Stamford’s horticultural sophistication.
Schoolmaster: Said to have grown from the seed of a Canadian apple in the garden of Stamford Grammar School, this variety was introduced by Thomas Laxton around 1880. It earned an RHS First Class Certificate that year. Firm-fleshed and slightly acidic when cooked, it is a long-keeping and handsome fruit with a flushed and striped skin.
Peasgood’s Nonsuch: Raised in Grantham by Mrs Peasgood and introduced by Laxton in the 1870s, this large, rounded dual-purpose apple won an RHS First Class Certificate in 1872. It cooks to a soft, slightly acidic purée and is equally valued for eating fresh. Smooth-skinned with a subtle flush, it has long been a gardener’s and exhibitor’s favourite.
Brown’s Seedling: Introduced in 1874, this Stamford-bred culinary apple was praised by pomologist Robert Hogg for its handsome appearance and excellent cooking quality. With its yellow skin and orange flush, it keeps well and offers a pleasingly mild acidity when cooked.
Allington Pippin: Bred by Laxton in Stamford and originally called South Lincoln Beauty, this 1884 introduction has a distinctive pineapple-like flavour. Suitable for both cooking and eating, it is a cross between King of the Pippins and Cox’s Orange Pippin, with tall, attractive fruit and aromatic notes as it matures.
For more information and help with identification, see www.scog.org.uk.