Hogg described the apple as medium-sized, oval, with a distinctive fleshy, curved stalk of about three-quarters of an inch in length: the skin was yellow with a soft red flush, deeper on the sunward side.

[2] The varieties' name was popularly supposed to refer to the stalk's resemblance to the head of a woodcock; but Thomas Andrew Knight, who described and illustrated the apple in his Pomona Herefordiensis, surmised that its name was originally that of the person who first raised the variety.

[3] The Woodcock was noted by writers as far back as the 17th century, making it one of the earliest described varieties.

[4] John Philips, in Book 2 of his poem Cyder (1708), described how juice of the Woodcock was blended with that of other apples to create "a pleasurable Medly".

[5] The Somerset grower John Scott (1807–86) noted that it was still in existence in the late 19th century, describing it as a "beautiful light red apple".