A national collection of Welsh cider and perry trees has been established in Aberystwyth at the end of a two-and-a-half-year project.

The Heritage of Orchards and Cider Making in Wales project, run by the Welsh Perry & Cider Society, established six orchard sites including at the IBERS campus of Aberystwyth University at Gogerddan, near Penrhyncoch.

The project worked to identify varieties of cider apples and perry-making pears, with the team DNA testing 200 trees and finding 73 previously unrecorded varieties.

These have now been catalogued and photographed, with the unique trees being propagated from graftwood to create national collections at the selected sites.

Each of the orchards, including that at Aberystwyth, hold two of each variety, acting as a “genetic resource to ensure the preservation of these varieties as a valuable part of Welsh natural heritage”, the project said.

A university spokesperson said: “Two of the unique apple trees listed and growing in the museum orchards were identified at the university’s Frongoch farms.

“We have a lab set up to identify apple and pear varieties using DNA fingerprinting.

“The orchard at Gogerddan is now virtually completely planted with help from the Aberystwyth Conservation Volunteers, a group of Aberystwyth University students.”

Aberystwyth researcher Danny Thorogood, who has also helped Llanerchaeron National Trust identify some of their ancient apple trees, said: “At Aberystwyth University, we are currently planning extension projects to take this work further.

“We have been sampling trees from derelict orchards on university land that are at least 60 years old.

“The results have overall been fascinating and many unique trees have been found.”

See this week’s south papers for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now