Gabalfa apple could return to city after 100-year absence

The Pettigrew family - from left to right Andrew Alexander, William Wallace, Andrew Senior and Hugh Allan - are credited with creating Cardiff's modern landscape

A rare type of apple for which Cardiff was once famed is to be reintroduced in the Welsh capital after a century-long absence.

The Gabalfa apple dates back to the Victorian period when it was described as being "sufficiently good for a late dessert apple, and a very valuable one for culinary purposes".

Believed to have died out, it was rediscovered in Carmarthenshire in 2004 by the Marcher Apple Network, a group of enthusiasts keen to revive old varieties of apples and pears.

The 50 Gabalfa trees, as well as hundreds of other fruit trees, to be planted around Cardiff are intended to both increase biodiversity and honour the legacy of the Pettigrew family who are credited with creating the city's modern landscape.

Jennifer Burke, from Cardiff Council, said the tree-planting project, Coed Caerdydd, was part of efforts to tackle climate change and "expand Cardiff's tree canopy".

As well as the 50 Gabalfa apple trees, it would also see 450 other fruit trees, including apples, pears, plums and cherries, as well as new hedgegrows, planted around the city.

Project manager Chris Engel said the programme aims to "follow in the footsteps of the people who made the incredible green spaces, and make our parks the green lungs of Cardiff once again".

He added that "the way we appreciate the open spaces of modern Cardiff is entirely down to the Pettigrews”.

Starting as a gardener employed by John Crichton-Stuart, the 3rd Marquess of Bute, Andrew Pettigrew and his three sons transformed Cardiff's green spaces into the public parks residents enjoy today.

Chris Engel, project manager at Coed Caerdydd, said it aims to make parks "the green lungs of Cardiff once again"

Andrew Senior, who was born in 1883, was the son of a Scottish shoemaker who initially worked at Dumfries House, the Bute residence in Ayrshire, before moving to work on the family's estate in Cardiff.

Unlike his sons, who would all train in horticulture at Kew Gardens, Andrew was entirely self-taught.

Despite this, he not only introduced the Gabalfa apple, but also bred the first commercially-successful wine grapes in Wales.

Rosie James, formerly principal landscape architect at Cardiff Council, said the Marquess' grounds were "famous for their landscaping".

She said they borrowed from renowned designer Lancelot 'Capability' Brown in style, "but with more modern Victorian growing methods".

“From the boating lake at Roath Park to the lines of limes in Cathays Park, you can see the fingerprints of the Pettigrews all over Cardiff."

“They wanted beautiful spaces for people to walk in, but there was also an eye on the budget, and the need for the parks to pay for themselves," Mrs James said.

Bute Park is today an important public green space in central Cardiff

From 1873 to 1947 the Bute family arranged the transfer of beautiful landscapes into public ownership.

While walking through the grounds was free to the public, there were charges for activities such as fishing, bowling, football and ice-skating, and there was sometimes conflict between the competing activities.

“Today we would value wildlife more than fishing, but the Pettigrews saw otters as a threat to the viability of their fishing lake," Mrs James said.

"One report in the gardener’s notes records the successful killing of a 22lb (10kg) otter, which was decimating the lake’s fish stock."

When Roath Lake failed to freeze over, the Pettigrews even considered flooding a football pitch to use as an ice rink in order to "maximise revenue".

Both Andrew Senior and the Marquess died around the turn of the 20th century, and shortly before his death in October 1900, the Marquess is said to have remarked to Andrew Pettigrew: “See all this before us, this is yours and my legacy for now and generations to come."

Today the four Pettigrews are remembered with a tea room at the entrance to Bute Park

Andrew’s son, William Wallace Pettigrew, succeeded him, until he quit in 1915 to take up the post of Chief of Parks in Manchester.

Mrs James says that the Pettigrews also showed their vision in England.

“In Manchester, William undertook the world’s first study into the effects of air pollution on the health of society."

“It was taken extremely seriously, not out of philanthropy, but because after World War One the shortage of labour meant that keeping the industrial workforce healthy was more important than ever," she said.

The two younger sons, Hugh and Andrew A Pettigrew, both served as Head of Parks for the Cardiff Corporation after careers working for the Earl of Plymouth on his St Fagans estate.

Andrew Junior died of cancer in 1937 and Hugh in a car crash 10 years later.

Today the four men are remembered with a tea room at the entrance to Bute Park.

“There can never have been one family who did so much good for the wild spaces of an urban city," Mrs James said.