Ribston Pippin blossom
I live in Pontefract and have a number of fruit trees and room for a few more, I’d love to grow some that were bred here. Do you know any varieties that they bred specifically in the town?
Ian Downes
The following response from Philip Rainford:
I’ve not been successful in finding an apple local to Pontefract. However, I do have a copy of lists of apples from ‘A “Brief Catalogue of Fruit Trees Sold by William Perfect Nurseryman at Pontefract’ (c late 18th/early 19th century) and Yorkshire varieties Yorkshire Greening, Ribston Pippin and Sykehouse Russet appear within. Know of Green Balsam not too far away (Church Fenton); Cockpit another old Yorkshire apple, which encroached into Lancashire in Victorian times!
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