Some sources state that many apples identified as Foxwhelp today are not, in fact, the original variety, which came to be known as "Old Foxwhelp" to distinguish it from later sports (such as "Improved Foxwhelp", developed by H. P. Bulmer), which were selected from the original cultivar.
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This is one of the oldest surviving varieties of cider apple; it is first mentioned in John Evelyn's Advertisements Concerning Cider in his work Pomona of 1664, in which it is commented that "cider for strength ... is best made of the Fox-whelp of the Forest of Dean, but which comes not to be drunk until two or three years old".