Ruth Watson: Race is on to save Scotland's ancient pear trees

The National

12-05-2025

The monks of yore were very fond of tree fruit, which were stored for vital supplies through the winter and 'hungry months' (when some varieties were used in savoury dishes) as well as brewed to make a drink which could be much safer than water – apples for cider, and pears for the less well-known perry.
Apple trees live for a few productive decades, but pears? These remarkable trees can live for an incredible 400 years.
Many ancient trees have been found growing in gardens which once were part of the vast tracts of lands owned by the abbeys. The area around Newburgh – including the Carse of Gowrie, long famous for its fruit production – and Jedburgh are two examples.
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The grounds were sold off long ago but the trees which grew in those orchards still can be found in people's back gardens – many are unaware of the long history behind the tree which has been bearing fruit for generations until a diligent researcher comes to their door.
Now work is being done to identify and rescue the last of Scotland's ancient pear trees before they reach the end of their very long lives – and that's where the public are being asked to help.
Last year, the charity Orchard Revival carried out a Scotland-wide survey to map the location and determine the condition of the orchards in Scotland – the National Orchard Inventory for Scotland. Neil Clapperton is the director of Social Juice CIC, a social enterprise dedicated to turning surplus fruit into food and drink, helping people develop the skills needed to grow healthy fruit trees and community orchards, and saving lost heritage varieties.
'The survey of orchards was carried out by Crispin Hayes and, of course, the Carse of Gowrie was covered in some detail,' Clapperton tells me. 'He found that the pears had survived to a large extent where they hadn't been grubbed up.
'Most of them are in a poor state of health. Some of them are rotted completely internally. Some are still healthy, but they are many hundreds of years old, and there are an incredible range of varieties, some of which are unknown.
'Obviously, they were known back in 1700-whatever, when they were planted but the folk memory has disappeared, so we just don't know what they're called. We need help to try to match the information up with the varieties that were surveyed. If there are unnamed ones, then I think there's an opportunity to rename them, or if we can find historic descriptions, then see if we can match them up.'
Supported by funding from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, this phase of the project will look in detail at the mapping work already carried out, and then, Clapperton says, the plan is to 'gauge interest from the general public in using the culinary pears, the dessert pears, as well as getting some feedback about the quality of them' with a view to eventually moving some varieties back into commercial production on Scottish farms.
Research carried out several years ago by Kevin Reilly at Denmylne Castle, near the site of the last remaining Lindores pear tree (scions of which are now in the Royal Botanical Gardens, in Edinburgh), provides a fascinating rabbit hole of ancient names, descriptions, and origins giving an insight into Scotland's close European connections with pears from the Continent eventually giving way to home-grown names of varieties only found here – the Jargonelle and the Sheep Heid, the Longueville and the Pow Meg.
The famous Lindores, or Abernethy, pear tree must have been a remarkable sight. It was reportedly the largest fruit tree in the British Isles at 80ft tall, with a circumference measured 17.5ft and its canopy had a spread of 53ft. It was 'still producing abundant crops' when it was brought down by the same storm which destroyed the first Tay Rail Bridge in 1879.
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Orchards used to abound across Scotland, producing enough fruit for the communities around them. As the British Empire grew, an early form of globalisation began as imports started to replace local fruit production.
On the afternoon of Tuesday, March 1, 1910, the Master of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers introduced the reading of a paper by Dr John McCall, the Agent General for Tasmania to the Royal Society of Arts (RSA). McCall provided his London audience with a detailed analysis of the imports of fruits from across 'the Colonies'. Regarding Australia: 'In 1908 there were under fruit cultivation 172,751 acres of apples, 9604 acres pears. […] These figures do not comprise the total imports of fruit, but only of those varieties which are actually grown here [ie, competing with UK produce].
'The fiscal policy of this country, together with the fact that the railways are privately owned and therefore run on commercial lines, and, further, that cheap water carriage is available for the transport of fruit from the countries competing in the open markets here, offers no prospect of success to the growers of certain classes of fruit in this country.'
In the 1970s, farmers were encouraged to dig up commercial orchards and turn the land over to arable crops. Now, most of us are unlikely to come across pears other than something our grannies might serve to us stewed and drizzled with chocolate sauce, or as a fairly anaemic offering in a fruit basket, almost always rock hard one day and too soft the next.
Clapperton would have us become a nation which falls in love with pears all over again, rediscovering the range of textures and flavours available with ancient local varieties, fresh from the farm. If you would like to be a Scottish pear detective, he would love to hear from you at [e-mail]
Ruth Watson is the founder of the Keep Scotland the Brand campaign