The Appeal of Mrs Toogood

Here goes then. I’ve got the list and I’ve got a bus pass. Show me an extinct apple and I’ll be on my way.

Scanning the list, I decided the obvious first choice for my investigative powers was the William Ingall. The fact that it was developed in a no doubt top secret lab near Louth means that I can combine my hunt with a free tea courtesy of my locally situated parents and also means that if I get bored or too cold, I can sneak off home and sit in the warm inventing stuff to make me sound like an intrepid explorer. It’s a win win situation, in which I am doing both bits of winning.

The William Ingall has two other things going for it. Firstly, it’s an early season apple and we’re in March which is probably early season. I can’t be too sure because, as I might have mentioned previously, my knowledge of apple growing extends about as far as being fairly sure they grow on trees. Secondly, there is no known description of it so I can reasonably claim victory as long as I find an apple that is roughly apple shaped and is near where it should be.

First though, some research.

William Ingall was an orchard owner and nurseryman who lived and worked around the turn of the last century. Over the course of his life, he developed several different apple varieties and even a gage, all of which he named after himself and his family. A gage is some kind of plum and therefore outside the scope of this blog, but I’m sure it was very nice. By all accounts, well, by the one account available to me, his first apple creation happened entirely by accident and was subsequently named the Dr Clifford, which I’m not convinced is the best name for an apple. Clifford’s Chancer? Doctor’s Delight? Come on Bill, use some imagination!

Ingall went on to develop several other new varieties, including Ingall’s Red (a greenish yellow apple covered in Russet spots), Ingall’s Pippin (yellow with broken red stripes) and the Uland cooking apple (greenish brown with a slightly greasy skin). Obviously, they all sound fantastic (who wouldn’t want a greasy apple?), but this blog is only about lost varieties and that means the William Ingall itself.

Ingall lived in Grimoldby Priory until 1923, when he sold the property for a nominal sum in order to build a Village Hall. Once he had sold the land, Ingall put himself and his son to work clearing sods from the land in order to lay the foundations for what was to become a handsome brick building. Sells the land for a song and then labours for free. Top man, William Ingall, top man.

Chances are, then, that if the apple is anywhere it will be in the grounds of Grimoldby Village Hall on the gloriously named Tinkle Street in the centre of the village. Just as I made ready to catch the bus to Louth for a quick look, I remembered that my sister used to share a house with her boyfriend on Priory Lane, Grimoldby. Before I put all my eggs in one Tinkle Street basket, I thought I should at least mention it to her in case she knew anything helpful. I reached for my Samsung and only then remembered that it was her birthday and I had been warned not to bother her except in an emergency.

“Then again,” I thought to myself, “what greater emergency is there than science?”

I got in touch immediately. She told me that she was reasonably confident that the Priory was originally located next door to her house on Priory Lane but that the actual orchard was in her back garden. I was stunned. To think that my own sister had been hiding such treasure all along. If only I had bothered to visit her more often when she lived there, I could have saved myself nearly an hour of gruelling research. Suddenly I had two potential locations and a very real possibility that I could be about to find an actual lost apple.

I scrounged her ex-boyfriend’s number, a chap I shall mysteriously refer to as Martin, and sent him a message asking if I could wander around his garden at some point. As of now, I’m waiting to confirm a date and then I’m off.

William Ingall, I am on your trail. If it be within my strength to do so, you will be resurrected in a scenic and only slightly flood-prone field nearby within the month. Don’t go anywhere.