History of pears in the UK
2000 BC
It is thought that pears originated in the Caucasus from where they spread to Europe and Asia and that they were first cultivated more than 4000 years ago.
13th century BC - 600 AD
Both the Ancient Greeks and Romans valued the fruit for its flavour and medicinal properties. They also attributed aphrodisiacal properties to pears and the fruit was consecrated to Aphrodite and Venus, the goddesses of love.
43AD - 410AD
It is probable that pears were cultivated in Britain during the Roman occupation. Although the production of fruit was slow to develop, there is mention in the Domesday Book of old pear trees as boundary markers.
13th Century
Many varieties of pears were imported from France and the fruit was used mainly for cooking rather than eating raw. The Worcester Black Pear was first recorded growing in the orchards of Warden Abbey in Bedfordshire.
14th Century
The Warden pear had been bred and became famous for its use in pies. The variety is mentioned in Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” and the Michaelmas Fair at Bedford was renowned for baked Wardens.
1575
Queen Elizabeth I visited the city of Worcester and upon entering she saw a beautiful pear tree. It impressed her to such an extent that she decided to make the pear the emblem of the city.
1640
At least 64 varieties were being cultivated in England and grafting onto quince rootstock began to replace pear and crab apple rootstocks.
18th Century
New and improved strains were introduced from what is now Belgium. However, the majority of pears continued to be used for cooking. Dessert pears were grown mainly in private gardens but
were unsuitable for commercial cultivation. One exception was the William’s Pear, raised in about 1770 by a schoolmaster in Aldermaston in Berkshire, which became very popular and is still
produced on a limited scale today. Another old variety, the Worcester, has the distinction of figuring in the coat-of-arms of the city of Worcester, although this large deep russeted culinary pear has virtually disappeared.
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Early 19th century
The renowned horticulturist, Thomas Andrew Knight, began to develop pear varieties. The Royal Horticultural Society encouraged pear growing and in 1826 there were 622 varieties in their gardens at Chiswick.
1858
The real breakthrough in dessert varieties took place in 1858 with the introduction into England of the Doyenne du Comice, more commonly known as Comice.
1875
The first significant British pear to be produced by controlled breeding was Fertility in 1875, although this variety is no longer produced commercially.
1894
Conference was introduced in 1894 and together with Comice, quickly overshadowed all other pear varieties. During the latter half of the 20th century, both the sales and production of Comice declined whilst Conference increased in popularity. Today this variety represents more than 90% of UK commercial production.
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Mid-20th century
Since the middle of the 20th century there have been considerable changes in commercial orchards. Tree height has been greatly reduced to facilitate picking from near ground level without the need for ladders.
Present Day
Today around 8% of all pears sold in the UK are British.
Tree spacings have been reduced to increase productivity per hectare and pruning has been altered to allow more light into the centre of trees. The most modern systems are based on plantings of 3000 or more trees per hectare, with posts and wires supporting each row of trees. Irrigation is provided by computer-controlled systems, which also supply precise amounts of liquid fertiliser.
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