From the Living Museum
Bramley's Seedling
- Origin
- Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England
- Era
- c. 1809–1813
- Type / use
- Culinary
From the ArchiveFilm
Watch its story
The Pip That Took a Butcher’s Name
A short narrated history of Bramley's Seedling, told through the archive illustrations of our apple collection.
Illustrations: Mary Daisy Arnold (1931) and Ellen Isham Schutt (1908), USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection, National Agricultural Library (public domain). Narrated with a synthetic voice.
Watch on YouTubeHistory & Stories
Raised from a seed planted by Mary Ann Brailsford around 1809–1813; the original tree was later acquired by Matthew Bramley, whose name stuck. The classic English cooking apple: large, green, extremely high-acid flesh that cooks to a perfect light, fluffy puree. Unique for its cultural dominance in Britain, its very late flowering (excellent frost resistance), and the well-documented story of the original tree that still stood into the 20th century. Triploid, extremely vigorous and productive.
Folklore & Name
Raised from a seed planted by Mary Ann Brailsford in Southwell, Nottinghamshire. The original tree was later owned by Matthew Bramley, whose name stuck. The tree itself became famous and was still standing well into the 20th century. Classic British culinary icon.
Digging into the History
Below my own notes, here is what the old fruit books and today’s collections record about this apple, kept apart from the stories people tell.
What we know
Bramley's Seedling began as a pip planted in Southwell, Nottinghamshire. The UK National Fruit Collection says it was raised by Mary Ann Brailsford between 1809 and 1813, introduced in 1865 by the nurseryman H. Merryweather, first exhibited in 1876, and awarded an RHS First Class Certificate in 1893. It calls it "the most popular cooking apple grown in the UK" 1. When Robert Hogg described it in 1884, it was still a local novelty: "a Nottinghamshire apple," sent to him by "Messrs. Merryweather & Son, of Southwell" 2.
The name comes from a later owner of the garden. BBC Nottingham reports that Matthew Bramley, a local butcher, bought the property in 1846. When Henry Merryweather asked to take cuttings and sell the apple, Bramley agreed, "but insisted the apple should bear his name" 3. The Nottinghamshire Historic Environment Record adds that Merryweather first spotted the fruit in a basket carried by a gardener, who said it came from the tree "in Mr Bramley's garden" 4.
The competing accounts
- UK National Fruit Collection 1: raised by Mary Ann Brailsford between 1809 and 1813; introduced in 1865 by H. Merryweather.
- BBC Nottingham 3 and the Nottinghamshire Historic Environment Record 4: Matthew Bramley bought the house in 1846 and allowed Merryweather to sell the apple on condition that it carry his name. The pip-in-a-pot details come from local tradition 4.
Most likely (our judgment, not a certainty): sown by Mary Ann Brailsford in Southwell between 1809 and 1813 and named for Matthew Bramley. All the sources agree on this; only the family details are tradition.
What we think: stories & traditions
A girl, a flowerpot, and a butcher. In the Southwell telling, the pips came from apples in her mother's kitchen, and Mary Ann sowed them in a pot. She moved away and died without knowing what her seedling would become 4. It is a story told with real affection in Southwell. The basic facts, a pip around 1809 and Bramley's purchase in 1846, appear in several independent sources 1,3,4, but the family details come from local tradition.
It is one of the great ironies of apple naming: the girl who planted the pip is remembered only by historians, while the man who bought the house has his name on every jar of English apple sauce.
Sources
- UK National Fruit Collection, "Bramley's Seedling." www.nationalfruitcollection.org.uk/full2.php?id=714&fruit=apple
- Robert Hogg, The Fruit Manual, 5th ed. (London, 1884), "Bramley's Seedling." archive.org/details/fruitmanualguide00hoggrich/mode/2up?q=Bramley
- BBC Nottingham, "Birth of the Bramley" (2008, updated 2009). www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/content/articles/2008/10/21/bramley_apple_feature.shtml
- Nottinghamshire Historic Environment Record, "The Story of the Bramley Apple" (from its Winter 2009/2010 newsletter). her.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/whats-new/the-story-of-the-bramley-apple
Curious about Bramley's Seedling?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.