Preserving apples – Ancient tradition of planting orchards being revived
Hull Daily Mail, May 2004
Rare apple trees are being preserved with the revival of the ancient East Yorkshire tradition of planting orchards.
Commercial apple growing was once commonplace in the region but died out when importers started bringing in cheap fruit from abroad.
Large orchards in many East Yorkshire villages were also removed to make way for the start of the housing boom in the 1960s and 1970s.
A project is now under way to plant rare local varieties of apple trees in the new Millennium Orchard at Beverley Parks in Long Lane.
Unusual East Yorkshire varieties include the Hornsea Herring and the Fillingham Pippin, which is found only in the Swanland area.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council countryside access offers and members of the East Yorkshire Federation of Women's Institutes (WI) joined forces for the orchard venture on council land.
Countryside access officer Chris Toohie said: “This is an exciting project because it is believed to be the largest newly planted orchard of northern varieties in the UK.
“The working partnership with the WI has been excellent as it has provided funding for the trees and assisted with planting and pruning work on the site.
“When the trees start fruiting, people will be able to buy the apples, including the rare local varieties, at WI sales and farmers' markets.”
Other unusual northern varieties among the 81 trees planted are Bloody Ploughman, Cambusnethan Pippin, Court Pendu Plat and Peasgood Nonsuch.
Howden WI member Joan Helliwell, secretary of the orchard committee, said: “We are proud to be part of this very important conservation scheme.
“Most of the apples being grown in the Millennium Orchard are not available in the shops so it will be interesting to see how they taste.”
Mrs Helliwell, of Howden, said years ago the East Riding had a reputation for its orchards but many of them had disappeared.
“People are now getting involved in schemes to plant new orchards, and preserve our native species of apples, which is good news,” she said.
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