Grid reference | ST 17763 77021 |
Common name | Cheltenham crab |
Origin | Garden origin |
Deciduous | Yes |
Status | GB Champion 2023 |
Tag | 2371 |
Planted | Possibly 1960s |
Height | 7.5M November 2015 |
Height | 7.5M August 2017 |
Height | 7.5M March 2024 |
Girth | 87cm November 2015 |
Girth | 89cm August 2017 |
Girth | 89cm February 2023 |
Girth | 90.5cm March 2024 |
Reference | 353 |
This tree is at the south end of the Apple group, west of the main path and approximately 75M south of Fishers Bridge. In early September 2016 the diameter of the fruit was typically 25mm. The fruits had a bitter taste.
The only other known tree of this kind is Malus 'Cheltenham' at Dyffryn Gardens.
General tree description
No sources of information have been found for Malus 'Cheltenham'. Two examples of this cultivar are known to exist, one at Bute Park, Cardiff and the other at Dyffryn Gardens, Vale of Glamorgan.
For Bute Park the name occurred on 1950s hand-drawn planting plans made by William Nelmes Senior, who was planting the arboretum from the late 1940s until the mid 1960s. At Dyffryn Gardens, in 1997, there was on old-looking label on the tree. Both trees are believed to have been planted in the 1960s.
It is possible that this cultivar could have been raised by W.Hopwood and son (Cheltenham) Ltd who were a fruit and rose nursery in the first half of the 20th century.