THE creators of the UK's first Damson Port have launched a campaign to save the fruit..

The crop has shrunk to dangerously low levels and Julia and David Hepworth, of Raisthorpe Manor Fine Foods, Wharram, near Malton, are urging people to help save the "damsons in distress."

The couple have planted a new orchard of eight foot tall Merriweather damson trees on their estate and launched a "Damsons are Forever" campaign which encourages others to plant more trees to save the fruit.

Damsons were widespread until the 1940s. Evidence of them has been found in Roman archaeological digs across England and they were widely used in the dye and cloth manufacturing industries in the 18th and 19th centuries - even to dye early RAF and army uniforms.

Damson orchards were also widespread and used in commercial jam making. "Damson Saturday" at Kendal Market attracted buyers from jam factories in Lancashire and Yorkshire each year.

However, at the end of the Second World War changing tastes and the relatively high cost of British-grown fruit caused a catastrophic decline and their has only been a handful of new plantings since the 1960s.

Julia Medforth and the Raisthorpe team use fruit from the estate's hedgerows for a range of fruit liqueurs, including the award-winning Damson Port – but without new plantings there is concern the fruit may be lost forever.

Mrs Medforth said: "With each tree having an average lifespan of 50 years, once they die out we could be left with no British-grown damsons at all – they really are damsons in distress! We collect damsons by hand from nearby orchards and gardens for our Damson Port, and we want to see this rare countryside gem continue to flourish.”

Many villages in the Ryedale area still have damson orchards and Raisthorpe Manor will campaign throughout 2015 to see damsons reinstated as a national fruit.

With a vibrant dark blue skin and strong, sour flavour, similar to plums, the small berries have tart skins. The trees blossom with small white flowers in early April, and the fruit is harvested from late August to September or October.