Stockwood Discovery Centre orchard

This orchard is within the walled garden at Stockwood Discovery Centre, located in Stockwood Park in south Luton. An elegant row of espalier-trained apples was planted at some time in the 1980s. There are also wall-trained pears and plums, as well as a few standard trees.

Summary

History

Fruit trees would have stood in this garden since the time of Stockwood House, which was built in 1740 for the Crawley family. They had bought the whole estate in 1708 and would have used the walled garden as their kitchen garden. 

Luton Council's records say the Crawleys vacated the house and estate in 1939. Stockwood Park became a park in the ownership of Luton Council in 1945 and and the house itself was demolished in 1964. Stockwood Park Discovery Centre incorporates the former house's stable block and walled garden. It is managed by Culture Trust Luton, an arts and cultural charity.

Former head gardener Gary Hines told us that some of the fruit trees were planted by him in around 1985. This includes the lovely row of espaliers next to the greenhouses. These are the only trained espaliers we have found on publicly accessible land in Luton (apart from the overgrown row in Bide-a-While). We know some exist in private gardens. 

Although not an orchard fruit, there is a variety of grape that was first grown in this park, called the 'Stockwood Golden Hambro'. 

Crop types and cultivars at the Stockwood Discovery Centre

We have not yet attempted to identify the cultivars grown at Stockwood Discovery Centre, but helpfully the espaliers, cordons and other trees are labelled. However, staff at Stockwood told us that after refurbishment and reinstallation of the supporting trellis, some of the signs may no longer be in the right places. 

Apples

Tag   Planting date Type Cultivar

TBC 1985 Approx Malus Beauty of Bath

TBC 1985 Approx Malus Sturmer Pippin

TBC 1985 Approx Malus American Mother

TBC 1985 Approx Malus James Grieve

TBC 1985 Approx Malus Adams Pearmain

TBC 1985 Approx Malus Rosemary Russet

Other apple, fig, pear and plum trees are on site. 

One of the 5 espaliered apple trees.
James Grieve apple.
Rosemary Russet apple. The elegant embossed metal cultivar labels may no longer be in the correct locations after rebuilding of the framework. We will try to match them with their apples. 
Beauty of Bath apple.
Sturmer Pippin apple.
American Mother apple.
Adam's Pearmain apple.

Maintenance and pruning

The trees were maintained by the Stockwood Discovery Centre's head gardener and their team until 2022. During a visit in 2023, we noticed the espaliers had grown out somewhat and contacted Culture Trust Luton to see if we could organise an espalier pruning course. You can see the result in the photographs. A teacher, staff from the site and a Luton Orchards volunteer worked for a day to carry out the overdue summer pruning in 2023. The work was repeated with volunteers in 2024. 

Before: the central espalier apple.
Halfway there: the central espalier apple.
After: fruiting spurs pruned back to one leaf above the basal cluster.
Stockwood Discovery Centre staff doing espalier fruit tree pruning.
Carefully 'getting our eye in' to learn where to make a well-placed cut. 
Pruning course on 4 September 2023 with pruning teacher and espalier enthusiast Caroline Cupitt, Konni Deppe from the Luton Orchards project and staff. 
Rinse and repeat: summer pruning every year is important to keep the trained form in shape and to promote the formation of fruiting buds. This is the tree after pruning on 5 September 2024. 
A volunteer with a sharp, clean pair of secateurs. 
The central espalier in 2024 after pruning. 

Stockwood 'Golden Hambro' grape

Grapes are slightly outside the research scope of the Luton Orchards project. However, we were pointed towards this Luton variety by Elise Naish, Head of Heritage and Collections (now retired) at Culture Trust Luton, and it was too interesting not to mention it. 

The book Flore des serres et des jardins de l’Europe by Louis Van Houtte tells us about a grape that was grown by a Mr Crawley in Stockwood. This is a text translated from the French original: 

"The attached plate, faithfully copied from that of the Florist, Fruitist and Garden Miscellany, a horticultural journal published in London under the auspices of Messrs. Ch. Turner and J. Spencer, says more in favour of this magnificent grape than any description could. In terms of the size of the bunch, the size of the berries, the colouring, and the transparency.

However, the variety was obtained through pollination from the Chasselas of Holland, skilfully carried out by Mr. Busby, a successful and highly productive operation, two essential qualities in a vine intended for forced cultivation.

The Chasselas of Holland and the ordinary Muscat were, until now, the only two white grapes that could compete with the Black Hamburgh (pronounced Hambro) in expensive hothouse cultivation, and both, as is well known, are inferior to it in terms of the beauty of the fruit and its fertility.

The hybrid variety, called Stockwood Golden Hamburgh Grape, comes from the gardener of Mr. Crawley, Esq., of Stockwood Park. Its large size and the volume of its berries make it similar to the Black Hamburgh, but it has completely lost its dark hue, turning to a light amber-yellow, as depicted in the figure.

Its flesh is slightly firm, with a sweet, sugary flavour, somewhat more vinous than that of the Chasselas of Holland and the Muscat grape, but noticeably less so than the Black Hamburgh. The plant is vigorous and highly productive, two essential qualities in a vine intended for forced cultivation."

Newspaper articles from 1856 inform us about the full-sized engraving and that the whole story was not without controversy - apparently some 'parties endeavoured to take credit' from Mr Busby about the origin of the grape.

We do not know if this grape still exists at Stockwood Discovery Centre today. 

From: Flore des serres et des jardins de l'Europe, A Gand, Louis van Houtte, 1845-1880 https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/15860 v.12 (1857): https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/88581 Illustration, Page 53, Page 54 Holding Institution: Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter H. Raven Library Sponsored by: Missouri Botanical Garden
A short article from The Luton Times, 26 January 1856, referencing head gardener Mr Busby, and that a full-sized engraving of the Golden Hambro grape will appear in the 'Florist' for February that year. The British Newspaper Archive: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
'Some parties endeavoured to take credit' from Mr Busby for the grape variety. Source: The Hertford Mercury and Reformer, Saturday 15 March 1856. The British Newspaper Archive: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

Ideas for further research

Do you want to help care for this orchard? 

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