This National Lottery funded project aimed to highlight Bishopthorpe’s orchard heritage and create a new community orchard for the village on the edge of the sports field on Ferry Lane. The project was run by volunteers on behalf of Bishopthorpe Parish Council.

The funding for this project came to an end in October, and it was a fitting time to get the fruit trees planted in the new community orchard. 11 Scouts, and other helpers, planted out the trees on a lovely sunny afternoon. The orchard has been carefully cared for over the summer to get wildflowers established and weeds reduced. We hope the trees will thrive in their new home, and wildflowers will bloom next summer! Five more ‘bare root’ trees will be planted this winter. The list of varieties are: Apples: Belle de Boskoop, Lord Lambourne, Worcester Permain, Peasgood Nonsuch, Ribston Pippin, Flower of the Town, Ellison’s Orange, James Grieve, Discovery. Pears: Concorde, Beurre Hardy. Plums/gages: Victoria, Early Rivers, Gage Reine Claude de Bavay.

The project’s book, ‘Bishopthorpe in Blossom,’ is now on sale at Bishopthorpe library, Brunswick Organic Nursery and the Bishopthorpe archive in the village hall. It will also be available on loan from the library. The book includes photographs, interviews with local residents, information about local fruit varieties, and the fascinating history of the Archbishop’s walled kitchen garden.

We have been very lucky to have the assistance of experts from the Northern Fruit Group. In September, expert Anne Lee, visited the walled garden again and identified the varieties of the 8 veteran pear trees that still remain. They were once espaliers, trained against the warm south facing wall, and they are now tall trees: their blossom can be seen peeking over the top of the walls in spring. They include Souvenir du Congres, Calabas Bosc, Beurre d’Amanlis, Louise Bonne of Jersey, and Pitmaston Duchess. They still bear fruit, which would once have been considered a delicacy, grown for the Archbishop’s table.

Many kind people gave their labour and expert advice for free throughout the project. As a result, we had an underspend which we were able to add to our equipment budget. All of the project money was spent, and we purchased:

Apple juicing equipment, including an apple press for use at the Apple Pressing day. A smaller apple press for small scale events. Professional tools for fruit tree pruning, including a telescopic pruning saw/secateurs, loppers, and fruit picker. A wooden sign and interpretation panel for the community orchard. Metal tree tags for recording the variety of fruit. Magnifying glasses and ‘bug hunting’ jars for playgroup’s Forest Schools. Reference books about orchards and fruit varieties.

The books and the project reports will be kept in the reference section of the village library. The intention is for the smaller press and the tools to be made available on loan.

Thank you to everyone who helped with the project, whether it was sharing memories, giving time and expertise, allowing access to fruit trees and gardens, or participating in the community orchard and training events. You all made this project possible.

There will be a dedicated page on the Bishopthorpe Community website where we will provide information about the community orchard as it develops, and you can read the final newsletter here.

The project can still be contacted at bishorchard@yahoo.com.

http://www.bishopthorpe.net/bishnet/community-orchard/

With thanks from the Bishopthorpe Orchard Project Team

This is a Heritage Lottery funded project which aims to highlight Bishopthorpe’s orchard heritage and create a new community orchard for the village. The project runs from 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2019 and the grant award is £8,900. The project is being run by volunteers on behalf of the Parish Council.

This month the project is reaching its major milestones. The booklet “Bishopthorpe in Blossom” should be ready in time for the Apple Pressing day on 13 October. After that it will be available from the library, both on loan and for sale. Hours of research have revealed fascinating aspects of the history of fruit growing and market gardening in Bishopthorpe and the Archbishop’s walled garden, which has been brought together for the first time. For example, school log books from the 1800s record children regularly missing from school in summer to ‘pull fruit’ in the grounds and gardens around the village.

The community orchard site has been carefully tended over the summer to keep on top of the weeds and establish grasses and wildflowers. This month it will be planted up with fruit trees by the Bishopthorpe Scouts. Initially there will be 8 apples and 2 pears, with more to be added this winter, including plums and a gage.

We will be taking further samples of apples and pears to RHS Harlow Carr Apple Day for identification. There are a few varieties in Bishopthorpe which are very old, including the Hessle Pear, Balsam apple and Keswick Codlin apple. The Northern Fruit Group is interested in grafting some of these heritage varieties.

The funded part of the project finishes at the end of the month, but the project will continue with the help of volunteers. Thank you to everyone who has made the project a success! There will be a dedicated page on the Bishopthorpe Community website where we will provide information about the community orchard. We hope that you will enjoy the community orchard as it develops.

This is a Heritage Lottery funded project which aims to highlight Bishopthorpe’s orchard heritage and create a new community orchard for the village. The project runs from 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2019 and the grant award is £8,900. The project is being run by volunteers on behalf of the Parish Council.

Last month the project made a major purchase – an apple press for use at the annual village apple pressing event. Taking advice from the Otley Chevin orchard project, and looking at the presses they use, we decided on a traditional ‘rack and cloth screw press’. This is a large press which will be an attractive focal point for apple pressing and will enable the parish council to organise more than one event. We have also acquired a ‘scratter’ which grates the apples before they go into the press. Other purchases include a range of professional tools for pruning fruit trees, which can be loaned out to help with the management of old fruit trees in the village.

Work on the booklet ‘Bishopthorpe in Blossom’ has been completed and it goes to print this month. So much fascinating information has been uncovered about Bishopthorpe’s orchard heritage and we have had some lovely interviews with local residents and farmers. An amazing photograph has been discovered in the village archives showing the Bishopthorpe Palace walled garden, taken in 1949 from the top of St Andrews church tower. It shows the garden fully intact, with glasshouses and garden which extended well outside the current walls. Look out for this in the booklet, which will be available from the library in October!

We hope to take samples of apples to RHS Harlow Carr Apple Day in October for identification. If you have an old apple tree and are interested to know what variety it is, please get in touch and we may be able to include it.

The funded part of the project draws to a close next month with the planting of the trees in the community orchard. We would like to thank the many people who have helped make the project a success, in particular Linda Haywood (village archivist), Brunswick Organic Nursery, 1^st Bishopthorpe Scouts, Bishopthorpe Playgroup, Ainsty Lawncare and Landscapes, Natural England, and the many local residents who have turned out to help at the community orchard site.

To contact the project please email bishorchard@yahoo.com or phone 07563 798408.

This is a Heritage Lottery funded project which aims to highlight Bishopthorpe’s orchard heritage and create a new community orchard for the village. The project runs from 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2019 and the grant award is £8,900. The project is being run by volunteers on behalf of the Parish Council.

We are now two-thirds of the way through the live phase of the project and are making great progress. Whilst we wait until autumn to plant the trees in the new orchard, we have been exploring the history of orchards in the village. The old maps reveal that a staggering proportion of ‘old’ Bishopthorpe was cultivated as orchards and market gardens. Comparing the maps from the mid-19^th century to the present day shows just how many of these were built on during the 20^th century. You may assume that the fruit trees were bull-dozed, but the reality might be far less severe. In several places we think that the builders left many of the original fruit trees untouched and many are still growing in gardens! Pear trees in particular, can live well over 100 years! If you live on Sim Balk Lane, Church Lane, Main Street, Copmanthorpe Lane, The Coppice or any of the adjoining streets, and have an old-looking fruit tree in your garden, then please get in touch with the project – your tree might be a remnant of an old orchard thought to be lost!

One area which we would love to know more about is the area previously known as ‘Moor Close’ on Copmanthorpe Lane, where The Coppice is today. A house called ‘Prospect House’ on the old maps was built there in the 1800s and the land was cultivated for many years as a market garden with fruit trees. Does anyone remember this part of the village before The Coppice housing estate was built on it in the 1960s?? It would be really interesting to know whether any fruit trees still existed at that time, or even remain in peoples’ gardens.

We would also love more information about the Archbishop’s walled garden on Bishopthorpe Road on the edge of the village. This spring we were fortunate to be allowed to visit, accompanied by gardeners from Brunswick Organic Nursery who keep it well tended. In its heyday the walled garden was the pride and joy of several Archbishops, supplying their households with abundant produce. It dates from about 1767 and has a long history of fruit growing; the old walls are pockmarked with nails from training espaliers. Several very old pear and plum trees are still present (from the outside you can see their blossom sticking up over the walls) and the tradition of fruit growing is in good hands, with over 50 fruit trees still present. Our research has revealed an account of a visit in 1827 by a German Prince. Archbishop Vernon Harcourt personally escorted him around the walled garden and the prince wrote a vivid account describing its magnificence, including mention of pineapples and grenadillas growing in the hot houses! There used to be some very grand glass houses on the south facing wall and an avenue of plum trees in what is now the farmer’s field. These should have been clearly visible from Church Lane. Although we know that they were in decline by the 1940’s, we have no idea when the glass houses were demolished. Does anyone have any information? Or even better a photo (no harm in asking!!).

Finally, of all the memories and stories that residents have shared with us, we are surprised that no one has owned up to scrumping from any of the local orchards!! We would love to hear these kinds of stories from your childhood. Please get in touch with any little detail for any of the above. Local history is the compilation of little details!

If any of the information above has piqued your interest, we are writing a booklet to describe the orchard heritage of Bishopthorpe. Keep an eye open for it in October!

To contact the project please email bishorchard@yahoo.com or phone 07563 798408.

A Mountfield petrol mower was left near the orchard site in April. If this was donated to the project, then thank you to whoever left it. If not, then please get in touch as we are keeping it safe!