RUSHMERE EMBROIDERED Found by Andy McVeigh, former Biodiversity Officer with Bucks CC. He and his partner Julia Carey, environment officer at BCC brought a new tree and fruit to us in 2013. This very old and much decayed tree was found, alone, within Rushmere Park, formerly part of Stockgrove estate, with a history from Mediaeval times, and now in the ownership of the Greensand Trust. The estate straddles the Bucks/Beds border, in Bucks before boundary changes. The apples are quite large and beautifully coloured with broad crimson and carmine stripes, over a base of pea green and amber. Though there is insufficient evidence to ‘identify’ it as the lost 18th century Embroidered Apple, the word ‘embroidered’ suits it well and the name has been adopted by all parties. A dual purpose apple, crisp, juicy, sweet and modestly acid in October, it cooks quickly keeping most of its shape, retaining its sweetness, but developing a good tang. The apples will keep into November and December. Pollination Group 4
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

RYMER An important re-introduction of this most famous ‘lost’ Yorkshire apple in 2007. Rymer is an old variety, said by Hogg to have been raised by a Mr Rymer at Thirsk. Bunyard suggests it was raised about 1750. The first record was in the Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London in 1818. It was exhibited from both Hertfordshire and Kent at the Apple and Pear Conference of 1934, at Wisley, but no named examples have been heard of since. In 2005, we discovered it to exist at the Grove Research Station in Tasmania, in their collection of heritage apples. A cooking apple, large and roundish, which is more of dessert quality in the south. Late season and keeping to January. Attractive dark buds. Pollination Group 3
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

  

S.T. WRIGHT A pretty cooking apple, bred by J. Allgrove, while working at the Veitch’s Nursery at Middle Green, Langley, Buckinghamshire, which was later bought out by the Allgrove family. It dates from 1913 and was a cross between Peasgood’s Nonsuch and Bismarck. It was named after the Royal Horticultural Society’s Fruit Officer. Scions were rescued from Allgrove’s Nursery after it had gone wild by Nick Houston, who was close to the Allgrove family, before the death of Jim Allgrove and the demise of his nursery. He passed scions to us. Ripe in September, it cooks to a sweet yellow purée. Pollination Group 4

    
 

SAINT ALBANS PIPPIN First mentioned in 1883, it is a crisp and juicy apple with a sweet but tangy flavour. The mid-season fruit is striped red with darker red on the sunny side. Despite the name, it originally came from Kent, and not Saint Albans in Hertfordshire. Hogg said it was usually grown around Brenchley. Pollination Group 3

    
 
SAINT CECILIA A Welsh, late dessert apple raised in Monmouthshire in 1900 from Cox's Orange Pippin, open pollinated. It was introduced by nurserymen, Cheals of Crawley, Sussex. A delicious crisp, dessert apple which has long been appreciated by amateur growers, especially in the west of England, for its sweet, juicy fruit, which has a rich, intense taste. Heavy crops. Stores until March. Pollination Group 2
    
 
SAINT EDMUND'S PIPPIN Also called St. Edmund's Russet. Raised by Mr R. Harvey at Bury St. Edmunds in the mid 1800s, and first recorded at the R.H.S. in 1875. A middle season dessert russet, with sweet flesh and a rich flavour. One of the best apples for early October. Apples will store for a month or so. Trees are upright and spreading. Pollination Group 3
   
   
SAINT FRANCIS The only record of this apple comes from Robert Furber’s ‘Twelve Months of Fruits’ - coloured engravings in 1732, with lists of his fruits repeated in ‘A Short Introduction to Gardening….’ In 1733. The engraving suggests the apple is ripe in January, in a period when fruits ripened later due to the Little Ice Age. Saint Francis only appeared to exist still in America and was only in the Botner Collection, which no longer exists, except, in part, at The Temperate Orchard Conservancy in Oregon, where much of the apple collection was regrafted for posterity. We obtained scions from there several years ago. Our tree first fruited in 2022 and the apples were in accord with Furber’s plate, though the apples here ripened in October. His plate indicated a medium to large apple, though the scale of some of his fruits were sometimes idiosyncratic. The first fruit here, off a young tree, was more medium sized. Quite a pretty dessert apple, with pale yellow skin, finely streaked with amber and scarlet, with crisp, sweet flesh and a good flavour. Pollination Group 5
    
 
SAINT MAGDALEN The name of this apple has been heavily confused by the National Collection in recent years. The name has been moved from Saint Magdalen, to Magdalene, then to Magdalen and now back to Magdalene. This was despite the pre-existence of another apple called Magdalene known in 1768 and not the same as Saint Magdalen. A Magdelaine was even known to John Evelyn, the name dating from 1651. A Magdalen was also known in 1858 in Wales, before Saint Magdalen existed. The renaming also adds to confusion since Magdalene has long been a synonym of both Margaret and Madeleine. The National Apple Register (1971) included both Saint Magdalen and Magdalene, and it seems they were the same apple. However, the name Saint Magdalen came first – the apple having been received as Saint Magdalen by the National Fruit Trials in 1931. Magdalen was first noted from an exhibit at the Apple and Pear Confererence in 1934 and it was not until 1946 that Taylor made the name Magdalene. The National Fruit Trials as late as 1985, before they became the National Collection, still called it Saint Magdalen. The National Collection continued to call it the same, into the 21st century. Changing the name is illogical. This apple was found at Magdalen, Norfolk by H. Bridge circa 1890 and introduced by H. Goude in 1924. Morgan (The Book of Apples) gives a similar history but says it was found at St Mary Magdalene, Norfolk. (the charity ‘Common Ground’ say it came from the orchard of H. Bridge at Wiggenhall St Mary, near Downham Market). The place is currently called Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen, though the names Magdalene and Magdalen have been used interchangeably for two thousand years. It is a late dessert, medium sized apple, pale green yellow, largely covered with dark red and with russet patches and dots. The flesh is firm, fine textured, sweet and slightly acid. It is ripe from October to December. Our thanks to John and Helen Hempsall for sending scion wood to us. Pollination Group 3
    
 
SAINT JOHN’S PIPPIN In the mid 19th century, well established orchards were close to Oxford city centre, to the north and east. The Victorian and Edwardian expansion in housing took all their space, but left several trees to live on in the gardens of the new houses. Some still exist today. In North Oxford their grid planting can still be plotted, at variance with the lines of the houses and gardens. To the East, few old trees still exist. Just north of the centre, on the edge of the area known as Jericho, where other old fruit trees can be found, scattered around the Victorian gardens, once within orchards but built over to provide housing for university servants, there is a singular old apple tree. It is in the garden of a house built in the 1970s, within an orchard. The owners, John and Diana Ashby, believed the tree to be around 200 years old and in a state of decay. John brought us cuttings to graft new trees for their garden and allotment early in the new millenium and we kept a tree here. Sadly, John died shortly after. The road in which their house was built, in the 1870s, was land owned by St John’s College, Oxford, who owned much of the land at Oxford at that time, and many orchards within it, to supply the colleges and the townsfolk. This particular tree was named by John as Saint John’s Pippin, after the college. The apples are ripe in early October, are medium to large and with skin of pale green, turning pale yellow, delicately flecked with crimson. They are good eating apples, with crisp, sweet, juicy flesh and also very good culinary apples, baking well and cooking to a froth. Apart from the nursery catalogue of John Gee, 1891, (later Gee’s Garden Centre on the Banbury Road) little is known of the extent and varieties within these old orchards. It seems to be the case that records are in the libraries of the various colleges that owned land and orchards, and it might prove a rich vein of research in time to come. Saint John’s Pippin was saved just in time, thanks to the enthusiasm and energy of John and Diana Ashby.
    
 
SALTCOTE PIPPIN One of the best late dessert apples, raised at Rye in Sussex, and believed to be a seedling of either Radford Beauty or Ribston Pippin. It was first recorded in 1918. The medium to large, showy fruit has crisp, juicy flesh and a rich aromatic taste, with a hint of parma violets. It becomes sweeter with storage. Upright trees, which crop well. Stores into January. Pollination Group 3
    
 
SAM YOUNG An Irish apple known before 1818, from Kilkenny, introduced by John Robertson, who had a nursery there. It was in the London Horticultural Society catalogue of 1826. A small apple, roundish-oblate in shape, with pale green-yellow skin which is nearly covered with grey russet and a brown-red blush in the sun. The flesh is crisp, tender, juicy, sugary and highly flavoured. Hogg adds it is ‘a delicious little dessert apple of the first quality’. Ripe in October and storing to February. Trees have a spreading habit. Pollination Group 3
    
   
   
 
SANDLING Known before 1936 when it was listed in the catalogue of Bunyard Nurseries, Kent, though it originated in the West Country. A very late season dessert apple, round, yellow skinned, striped and flushed with red. The flesh is crisp, yellowish, juicy and sweet. It is ripe in late October and sometimes as late as late November. Apples will last into the New Year. It has not been known in Britain since 1952, but we noticed it in the United States Department of Agriculture collection and obtained scions from them. Pollination Group 5
    
 
SANSPAREIL A good dual purpose apple grown since the late nineteenth century. Small to medium sized apples with green/yellow skin smartly striped red. Russet in the stem cavity and eye basin. Crisp, juicy fruit, with a subtle honey flavour, sometimes nutty, which keeps its shape if cooked, and has a sweet, delicate flavour. Pretty blossom. Ripe in October, storing until March. Heavy crops. Pollination Group 3
    
  SARY SINAP This apple is thought to date from around 1790 but is probably earlier. It was in the first collection catalogue of the London Horticultural Society in 1826, as Saru Sinap, and still there in 1842, but apart from being in a list in Scott’s ‘The Orchardist’ in 1873, it has not been noted since in the UK. It still appears to be in the Roumanian collection and has been known in America (where we found it and brought it back) but it is unusually rare for such a good apple. This is one of several apples with ‘Sinap’ as part of the name and their origin has been attributed to Crimea, though it seems highly likely they arose in Sinop (formerly called Sinap) which is on a peninsula on the most northerly edge of Turkey, facing northwards to Crimea, just across the Black Sea. The Sinaps are usually quite long in shape. A very good eating apple, attractively streaked with red and with crisp, juicy, sweet flesh that has a rather unusual pleasant flavour, hinting of caramel. Ripe in early October, the apples will stay in good condition to the year end. Pollination Group 5