The historic trees were last documented in Cardiff in the 1900s but are now being reintroduced as part of an urban forest project
A rare species of apple tree known as the ‘Gabalfa tree’ is being reintroduced by Cardiff Council’s tree planting project Coed Caerdydd in the next few months.
Between October 2024 and April 2025, 50 Gabalfa trees will be planted in Gabalfa Park, Bute Park Community Orchard, Maitland Park, and on school grounds. They will be planted by volunteers of the Coed Caerdydd urban forest project.
The 50 Gabalfa trees are included within the 30,000 trees the project will plant this season across 185 sites in Cardiff.
Jennifer Burke, a Welsh government cabinet member for culture, sport and parks said: “We’re thrilled to reintroduce Gabalfa apple trees to Cardiff for the first time in around a century.”
“The variety, once cultivated on the Bute family estate, is being planted not only to preserve this historical part of our local heritage but also to support biodiversity,” she said.
The Gabalfa tree was historically known as the ‘Gabalva tree’ and was last documented in Cardiff by Andrew Pettigrew in 1900. Pettigrew was the third Marquess of Bute’s head gardener and an expert in fruit culture.
In a journal called The Gardeners’ Chronicle that was published in 1900 Pettigrew said: “We have three standard trees of this variety growing in Gabalva. They are about 35 feet high with trunks thicker than a man’s body.”
He also said that the fruit on the trees was “sufficiently good for use as a late dessert apple,” as it was “large, sweet, crisp and juicy.”
The Bute family ate their own homegrown produce but it is unknown whether they cooked with the Gabalfa apples grown on their land. Erfyl Ogwen Parry, a curator for Cardiff Castle, said that he could find no record of these trees but noted that the Bute family recorded many apple-based recipes such as apple fritters and apple pudding.
Do you want to try and make your own apple fritters? Here’s a recipe provided by Tesco Real Food:
