From the Living Museum
Duck's Bill
- Origin
- Sussex, England (exact origin unrecorded)
- Era
- Old Sussex (sent to trials 1937)
- Type / use
- Dessert
History & Stories
Distinctive name but limited documentation: the National Fruit Collection received a Duck's Bill from Sussex in 1937, and in the 1800s the name was also used in Sussex for Winter Pearmain 1,2,3. Collectors’ variety worth tasting and recording from my own trees.
Folklore & Name
Old Sussex apple sent to the National Fruit Trials in 1937 by Fred Streeter (head gardener at Petworth House). Name refers to the conical shape resembling a duck’s bill. Also associated in some records with Winter Pearmain. Limited but documented English heritage.
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.
The competing accounts
- UK National Fruit Collection 1: a dessert apple called Duck's Bill, received from Sussex in 1937; nothing earlier recorded.
- UK National Fruit Collection 2 and Robert Hogg, 1884 3: Duck's Bill is an old Sussex name for Winter Pearmain.
Most likely (our judgment, not a certainty): a Sussex apple, but whether the tree here is the 1937 accession or the Winter Pearmain once sold under this name is not settled. Both are documented; comparing the fruit with the two descriptions should tell them apart.
What we think: stories & traditions
Very little is recorded. The UK National Fruit Collection holds a dessert apple called Duck's Bill, "received 1937," with the origin noted only as "received from Sussex" 1. It describes the fruit as narrow and conical, strongly ribbed, with orange stripes 1.
A name shared with an older apple. The same collection lists "Duck's Bill" and "Ducksbill of Sussex" among the synonyms of Winter Pearmain, a very old English variety 2. Robert Hogg (1884) confirms the old usage: he described Winter Pearmain as a well-known Sussex apple "under the name of Duck's Bill," widely grown on the Weald 3. So the name was in use for more than one apple, and we can't be certain which one any old reference means. The pointed, beak-like shape is the likeliest reason for the name, though that is our guess.
For a tree like this, our own records of blossom, harvest, and flavour will be as useful as anything in print.
Sources
- UK National Fruit Collection, "Duck's Bill." www.nationalfruitcollection.org.uk/full2.php?id=1690&fruit=apple
- UK National Fruit Collection, "Winter Pearmain." www.nationalfruitcollection.org.uk/full2.php?id=6854&fruit=apple
- Robert Hogg, The Fruit Manual, 5th ed. (London, 1884), "Winter Pearmain." archive.org/details/fruitmanualguide00hoggrich/mode/2up?q=Duck%27s+Bill
Curious about Duck's Bill?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.