Campaigners have launched an appeal to try to save for the nation the mother tree of perhaps the most popular cooking apple in the world.

The original bramley apple tree, which grows in the garden of a cottage in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, is for sale, with the cottage put on the market by its owners, Nottingham Trent University.

Every single bramley apple ever eaten can be traced back to the tree, which was planted from a pip by a young girl, Mary Ann Brailsford, in the early 19th century. It has been recognised as one of the 50 most important historic trees in Britain but has no legal protection.

Rather than have the 220-year-old tree fall into private hands with no public access, campaigners are seeking to raise money to buy the property and turn it into a heritage centre.

The artist Dan Llywelyn Hall, one of the founders of the campaign and who has depicted the mother tree in many of his paintings, said: “Saving this tree for the nation sends a much wider message about preserving our ancient heritage trees and appreciating them like any cultural asset.

“If we can buy paintings for museums for gargantuan sums, why can’t we see these natural wonders as equals and give them due reverence, care and dignity. It would be a great travesty and a national embarrassment to lose this opportunity.”

The campaign, which is seeking to crowdfund £250,000 towards the purchase price of the cottage, is supported by the musician Cerys Matthews and Celia Stevens, the great granddaughter of Henry Merryweather, the horticulturist who first spotted the potential of the unique hybrid apple.

The apple was first sold by Merryweather in 1876, and was named after a later owner of the house and tree, Matthew Bramley.

Merryweather grew grafts from the original tree and successfully produced more bramley apples. Nicknamed the “King of Covent Garden”, the bramley became the only British cooking apple available all year round, and its natural acidity is adored by cooks.

Stevens said the original tree, which has survived attacks by honey fungus and is still fruiting and sending forth vigorous new shoots amid some dead branches, was an important part of Britain’s culinary and fruit history.

“Although it is in its senior years, it is pretty unique for an apple tree to be alive and in blossom when it is well over 200 years old,” she said. “It is the finest culinary apple this country has ever produced, and still commercially viable which is remarkable in its own right.

“To be seen by the public with care and explanations after so many years of service so to speak would be very special to Southwell and Nottinghamshire. It is known all over the world – I have been to Japan and seen the bramley industry there for myself. There is even a bramley fanclub.”

The tree has been cared for and propped up by Nottingham Trent University, which has used the cottages as a halls of residence since purchasing it in 2018.

The campaign to buy the cottage and create a heritage centre is supported by a local business which would manage accommodation for tourists – and bramley fans – within the cottage.

The tree has been cloned, and last month Stevens attended a special planting of one of its offspring in the garden of Anne Hathaway’s cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon, which was also attended by bramley fans from Japan. Bramley plantations still produce apples for cooking and cider-making all over the world.

“How many things are still commercially viable after more than 150 years?” added Stevens. “It’s a pretty good record and the bramley has earned our respect for what it’s given this country. It’s a special tree, and we’re no good without trees. It would be lovely if the public knew more about it.”