Bramley Apple | Edible Gardening Coach | Fruit Trees

The Bramley apple is undoubtedly Britain’s favourite apple for cooking with. Indeed ‘Bramley’ is almost synonymous with ‘cooking apple’ for many people.

And if you have an ‘unknown’ apple tree in your garden which is a cooker, you’re possibly guessing it’s a Bramley and you have a fair chance of being correct!

But do you ever stop to wonder why there are so many? And why it is so popular with the British public? Put the kettle on, make a cuppa and read on..

How the Bramley Apple came to be

The first person to grow the world famous Bramley apple was Mary Ann Brailsford in the family home in Nottinghamshire. In 1809, as a child, she planted pips from the apples her mother was cooking with. Mother and daughter nurtured the seedling and it grew.

If you’re wondering why the apples are not called ‘MaryAnn’s’ that’s because the family moved away.

By 1856, a man called Matthew Bramley lived in the property and owned the tree. A local gardener and nurseryman, Henry Merryweather, asked if he could take cuttings with an eye to developing the fruit tree into a commercial project. Bramley agreed, but on condition that the apple should be named after him. Which is why the Bramley apple is properly known as ’Bramley’s Seedling’ .

Merryweather was successful in cultivating the grafted tree and the fruit it produced. And on 31st October 1862 sold the first apples to George Cooper of Upton Hall.

Bramley’s Seedling was well received in exhibitions and by the Royal Horticultural Society’s Fruit Committee, earning plenty of awards.
Henry Merryweather was also instrumental in establishing the first commercial Bramley orchard. His advice was sought by the new owner of the local Norwood Park estate and the new orchard was planted at Maythorne Orchard.

Twentieth Century Apple

But the turn of the century nearly saw an end to the success of the Bramley apple, or to be precise, the original tree. There were violent storms and the tree blew down. It survived. Although accounts differ slightly as to whether it was re-rooted, or a branch took root.

Of course this was not the only tree, there were by now many hundreds of Bramley’s Seedlings planted in orchards. As you might expect from the ‘Garden of England’, Kent had and still has a large proportion of these orchards. But it interesting to note that the apples grown in County Armagh have a tarter flavour than English grown fruit. They also enjoy Protected Geographical Indication status with the European Union. This promotes and protects quality agricultural crops and produce

The Original Bramley Seedling and its Clones

There are differences between many of the commercially grown trees and those cloned from the original tree.

Scientists from Nottingham University cloned trees from the original Bramley Apple tree in 1990 (using tissue culture). These clones are more compact in habit and the thought is that mutations must have occurred in the commercial stock, but went unnoticed. Although not widely available for the domestic market, Bramley Clone 20 can be found at specialist fruit nurseries.

The fruit has maintained its excellent cooking qualities. Flesh which is distinctly tart if eaten raw turns to flavoursome puree when stewed.

Tips for Growing

Bramley’s Seedling apple trees are large, vigorous and long-lived (obviously). They will tolerate some shade and thrive on heavier clay soils. As they are large trees, most gardeners will want a dwarfing rootstock: –

MM106 will grow to 10-12 feet in most conditions. This size is well suited to sandier soils as it has greater vigour.
The smaller rootstocks such as M9 would also be fine on lighter soils and as a bush (‘natural’) form should make 6-8 feet.
The M27 is the rootstock generally used for espalier and step-over apple trees.
I find Bramleys make a tall stepover, so do bear this in mind if you’re not agile and will be literally stepping over the tree.

You may like to try growing the Bramley Clone 20, which is supposed to be both 20% less vigorous than its parent (useful in small gardens) but still producing a prolific crop.

Bramley apples themselves are what is termed a flat round shape and large. They have a vivid green skin which interestingly turns a red shade on the side which receives direct sunlight.

Most apple trees are not self-pollinating and Bramley is no exception. However, just to make things potentially trickier, it is a triploid, meaning it needs two other trees to pollinate it not just one other. It is in Pollination Group 3/4/C (depending on where you look) which makes it a mid season apple blossom, heading towards the later end of that section when grown in shadier spots.

Whilst it may seem self-evident, these trees need to be in blossom at the same time as the Bramley. I’ve grown Greensleeves, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Laxton Superb and James Grieve with the Bramley and had successful results. The Bramley’s blossom is really pretty, but unfortunately it is virtually sterile and cannot be relied upon to pollinate other apple blossom.

The tree has good resistance to apple scab and mildew, and once the pollinator trees are sorted, should give you a heavy crop every year once it reaches maturity.

The Bramley Apple today

In 2003 the Tree Council chose the Bramley as one of the fifty great trees of the UK.

And in 2009 the apple celebrated its 200th birthday.

Unfortunately in 2016, it was noticed that the original Bramley tree had fallen prey to an incurable fungus infection. It has been treated, and is surviving beyond the lifespan expected. It’s even still producing some apples! Cuttings have been taken.

Annual Festivals takes place both in February – as the Bramley is an excellent apple for storing and available year round as a result. And also on the third Saturday in October in Southwell where it was ‘born’. Southwell also has a fascinating Bramley Heritage Trail which is well worth walking along.

This year – 2020 – has made it difficult for many fruit growers as their usual pickers have not been available. Combined with the seriously reduced income of most charitable organisations, places such as Brogdale have opened up fruit picking to the public (whilst maintaining all the relevant Covid measures). Their Heritage Orchard days finish on October 17th, and Bramley apples, being a late crop will be among the main fruit still to be picked.

And if you’d like lessons in growing fruit in your own garden, or a garden orchard created, do please get in touch with us here at Plews.

You may also enjoy reading more about apples, apple blossom, ornamental edible gardens and edible gardening in the blogs below. Go on, put the kettle on again…