Red Victoria

Red Victoria is an unusual, red, culinary variety discovered as a chance seedling by a Mr Miller in 1884 near Wisbech. It received an RHS Award of Merit in 1908 and a First Class Certificate in 1910.

Red Victoria was never widely grown beyond the Fens and is now even rare in that area, where the few remaining trees often have a peculiar umbrella-like appearance. As the Fen orchards were not grazed, there was no need to create trees with tall, clean trunks. Traditionally, the stems were stopped at two or three feet and the branches trained in long, curving arcs to form a fruiting canopy with a height and spread of twenty to thirty feet. Such trees were known locally as standards, even though they lack the traditional tall trunk associated with that name.

Origin and History

Fruit

The fruit is large, rather flattened in form and almost covered with brilliant crimson. The flesh is greenish-white, sharp and juicy.

Picking, Storing and Using

This is an early variety, which does not store as well as many of the late cookers. The flavour is described by the pomologist R. Castle Lewis as ‘excellent’ and the fruit cooks to a sharp froth.

Growth, Flowering and Pollination

The trees are robust and reasonably disease-resistant. They have pretty blossom and are usually heavy croppers.