Saving apple trees to grow for the future

Headford initiative has great interest

APPLE trees dating back to the 19th and early 20th centuries are being preserved and propagated thanks to an initiative in Headford.

The idea for the project came about after an initial presentation by on preserving local apple varieties in the town.

Cillian Boyd, a specialist in heritage apple and tree conservation spoke to members of Headford Environment Group (HEG) on how many heritage apple varieties have been forgotten about but may still survive in the area.

Such was the interest following the talk, the group decided to expand the project to focus on heritage apple trees in the Headford area. The aim of the project is to research, locate, document, map and graft heritage trees from the 19th and early 20th century.

The project is the perfect fit for HEG whose aims are to raise awareness of environmental issues in the community, to promote initiatives which highlight the value of the natural and built heritage, biodiversity, climate change and the environment. To date the group have created a Community Heritage Orchard in the grounds of St John the Baptist Church which has won the Community Green Flag and Pollinator awards.

In the first phase, Cillian Boyd researched OSI maps from the 1840, 1880s and early 20th century. He discovered local orchards by comparing the old maps against modern satellite imagery and located surviving planted apple trees. These are a tangible link to the past as some trees can survive for 150 years. He then pinned the locations on Google maps and shared them with the participants.

Orchards were also noted in six townlands in Headford as far back as the 18th century and can be found in the volume ‘Maps with Descriptions of the Land & Estate of Richard St George Manseragh, Co Galway in 1775’ which is housed at Galway County Council archives. A lot of the surviving old tree varieties are not conserved in any collection. Many are in precarious circumstances due to age and regrettably many have been lost in recent storms.

Last month Cillian introduced the Headford Historic Orchard Mapping Project at a presentation in the Angler’s Rest in Headford. He outlined the context, background, shared his findings and gave a grafting demonstration. This sparked great interest and participants agreed to enquire about trees locally. He returned again armed with more information about locations and updated Google maps. He travelled to areas of interest and was met with great local enthusiasm; people shared stories and history about their trees.

Headford Men’s Shed facilitated a grafting workshop where the scions (branch cuttings) collected were grafted onto apple roots stocks. Participants helped potting up the newly grafted trees and to grow them on. These will be planted in the Community Orchard at a later date and saved for future generations.

The next phase of the project will happen late summer or early autumn during Heritage week with a bud grafting demonstration, apple identification, apple tasting, and updated findings will be shared. HEG wishes to acknowledge the funding support of the Heritage Office Galway County Council for this initiative.