Golden Spire was intrroduced in the Victorian period, primarily as a cooking apple. It was discovered in Lancashire but spread to Gloucestershire where it was known as Tom Matthews and grown for cider production.
It remains popular in England as a garden variety, and is notable for its distinctive cider-like flavour. The flesh is juicy and it cooks to a puree with an excellent apple flavour.
Golden Spire apple identification images
All images copyright Orange Pippin unless otherwise stated.
USDA identification images for Golden Spire
The identification paintings in the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection span the years 1886 to 1942.
Citation: U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705.
Visitor reviews
- 16 Sep 2023Our school has a small orchard where these apples grow. Just had the most amazing home grown apple crumble made by the school cook. Gardening Club children picked them. Afterschool club children peeled them. We all enjoyed eating the crumble!
- 22 Feb 2023It is a wonderful apple - best for eating by older people not brought up on the many very sweet apples now on sale. It is also a very good cooking apple.
- 19 Oct 2022We have an old, lichened Golden Spire in our garden. Beautiful blossom and crops heavily every other year. We use it as an eater, firm and crisp, and for cider making.
- 27 Feb 2021 AGDER, NorwayEven in Norway, homeland of damp, cool weather, including infrequent summers, this cultivar, more or less, every second year, displays impressive elongated fruits of enjoyable fresh taste, comparable to the high, but rare autumn blue skies.
- 06 Dec 2015 ROSS & CROMARTY, United KingdomI've just had an apple tree in a local hedgerow identified as. golden Spire by Brogdale. It's about 10 miles north of Inverness, and I haven't the foggiest how it got here. Now that I know what it is I may try growing some from piosnext year.
- 10 Nov 2012 United KingdomMy mother has an old Golden Spire in her orchard. The fruit has a very distinctive, firm flesh with a slightly sour aftertaste - cidery, as some other reviews have said. It is an excellent eating apple, as well as being good for purees and baking
- 21 Oct 2012 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, United KingdomMy grandparents had one in their large garden at Wollaston, Northants. It was probably planted in the late 19th century when the house was built. I knew it in the 1960s when I was a boy, and well remember its distinctive smell and taste (my mum, in her 80s, has just recently told me the variety). I intend to plant one in my garden. One practical point: as I remember, it's not a great keeper - one to be used early and enjoyed.
- 05 Oct 2009 YORK, United KingdomThere's one growing in Kylemore Abbey near Galway. I filched a couple of windfalls, lovely fresh taste. The tree looked great too, covered in fantastic lichens
- 26 Oct 2008 GLOUCESTERSHIRE, United KingdomMy neighbour has just brought us over a load of these. They're oddly mis-shapen apples, with greenie yellow skin and pale, creamy white flesh.There is a little sharpness, but it's not unpleasant, with a cidery back-taste as previously mentioned. Eight of us have tried, including my two year-old, and we all agree, it's a thumbs up for eating/cooking.
- 11 Oct 2008 STAFFORDSHIRE, United KingdomWe have this variety growing in our garden and happily eat them straight of the branch. Good taste, sweet but with a 'cidery' hint to it. Crops well, unfortunately the wasps also love the apples.
- 18 Sep 2008 LANCASTER, United StatesJust tried one of these - I agree ! Fabulous cidery back-taste, perfectly edible (or at least the one i have just eaten was!). Probably best to classify as a 'Cooking/Eating' variety. Didn't this apple originate in Lancashire?
Tree register
United Kingdom
- Alan Mountney in Stafford, STAFFORDSHIRE
- Dave Woolcock in Preston,
- Rob Muir in Mossley, TAMESIDE
Ireland
- DoorusOrchard in Kinvara, GALWAY
Harvest records for this variety
2016 season
- 1st week October 2016 - tree owned by Dave in Preston, United Kingdom
2013 season
- 2nd week September 2013 - tree owned by DoorusOrchard in Kinvara, Ireland
Origins
- Species: Malus domestica - Apple
- Parentage: Unknown
- Originates from: Lancashire, England, United Kingdom
- Introduced: 1850
- UK National Fruit Collection accession: 2000-039
- Some historical details taken with kind permission from 'The New Book of Apples' by Joan Morgan and Alison Richards , illustrated by Elisabeth Dowle, published by Ebury Press, 2002.
Identification
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- Period of origin: 1850 - 1899
- Flower colour: Pink - light
- Leaf colour: Green
- Popularity: Rarely grown
- Annual cycle: Deciduous
Using
- Picking season: Mid
- Keeping (of fruit): 1-2 months
- Flavour quality: Good
- Flavour style (apples): Sweet/Sharp
- Cooking result: Puree
- Cropping: Good
- Fruit persistence: Ripens over a period
- Food uses: Culinary
- Food uses: Juice
- Food uses: Hard cider
- Food uses: Traditional cooker
- Picking period: early September
- Wildlife: RHS Plants for Pollinators
Growing
- Gardening skill: Average
- Flowering group: 1
- Pollinating others: Good
- Ploidy: Diploid
- Vigour: Average vigour
- Bearing regularity: Regular
- Growth habit: Weeping
- Fruit bearing: Spur-bearer
- Attractive features: Attractive flowers
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
Climate
- Climate suitability: Temperate climates
- Climate suitability: Mild damp climates
- Summer average maximum temperatures: Cool ( 20-24C / 68-75F)
Other qualities
- Disease resistance: Average
- Scab (Apple and Pear): Some susceptibility
Where to buy trees
The following tree nurseries offer Golden Spire apple trees for sale:
- Keepers Nursery
United Kingdom More >>
Where to buy fresh fruit
The following orchards grow Golden Spire:
United Kingdom
England - north
- Six Nine Orchard, Prudhoe
References
- Apples of England (1948)
Author: Taylor