National Trust Cymru has created a National Register of Welsh Apple Varieties that designates 29 varieties of Welsh apples to help safeguard Wales’ rich apple heritage.

The register is the result of three years of collaborative working and workshops, bringing together apple and orchard enthusiasts including Welsh author and apple identification expert Carwyn Graves, the National Botanic Gardens of Wales and the Marcher Apple Network.

Apples have been cultivated in Wales for over a thousand years. References to both the orchards and the fruit appear widely in myth, poetry, folk music and place names, including in the famous Mabinogi myth cycle, some of the earliest mentions of ‘Merlin’ in literature, and the iconic tradition of carving apple-wood love spoons.

The newly collated National Register of Welsh Apple Varieties aims to help combat this loss by recording and sharing a significant part of Wales’ cultural natural heritage and encourage continued cultivation of these familiar fruit, bringing Welsh apples and their associated blossom back to Wales.

Carwyn Graves, Apple identification expert and author of Apples of Wales, said: “Excitingly, as far as we know, this is the first National Register of this type to group varieties – so including varieties that may have arisen elsewhere or in the historic ‘Marcher’ area on the border but developed strong cultural associations with Welsh communities.”

Work to compile the list of Welsh apple varieties started in March 2022 based upon a preliminary list of over 120 possibilities provided by the Marcher Apple Network.

All those named on the Register can be found flowering now, in the gardens and orchards cared for by The Marcher Apple Network, National Trust Cymru at Erddig near Wrexham, Penrhyn Castle and Garden near Bangor, Llanerchaeron in Ceredigion, and recently at the National Botanic Gardens of Wales which holds the Plant Heritage National Collection of Welsh Heritage Apples.

Alex Summers, National Trust Cymru’s Head Gardener at Llanerchaeron and part of the group that complied the National Register of Welsh Apple Varieties adds: “At Llanerchaeron we are lucky enough to have six out of the 29 varieties of apples on the National Register thanks in part to the sympathetic management of the garden that dates back nearly two centuries.

“Varieties including Baker's Delicious, Bardsey, King of the Pippins (known in Welsh as Gwell Na Mil), and Llanerchaeron Peach can all be found growing in the Walled Garden. Some are veteran trees, and some are more recent plantings, but all contribute to the heritage orchard.

“By choosing varieties listed on the Register when planting apple trees, people will not only have a tree that is suitable to the changeable Welsh climate and resistant to the diseases which are more prevalent in western Britain, but they will also be helping to safeguard Welsh cultural heritage as we strive to do here at Llanerchaeron.” A list of the 29 apple varieties designated by the National Register of Welsh Apple Varieties can be found on the National Trust website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wales/llanerchaeron/visiting-the-garden-at-llanerchaeron