Until quite recent times, Wyken, a few miles north-east of Coventry, was a very rural place. Manor house, parsonage, farmsteads and a handful of cottages accommodated a population of 150 or less. The Cravens, of the neighbouring Coombe Abbey, had been lords of the manor for generations. It was through Admiral Thomas Craven (who died in 1772) that the name of this unobtrusive spot became widely famous. In about the year 1720 he brought from Holland, and planted in the garden of the manor house, a young apple tree of a kind apparently hitherto unknown in this country. It flourished and bore delicious fruit. Its descendants spread far beyond North Warwickshire, taking the name of Wyken with them.

Nowadays, when so many varieties of dessert apples are grown and recommended, the fame of the Wykens has become obscured, though the trees are still scattered about the countryside in fair numbers; and experienced  country folk, particularly those of the older generations, place this pippin high (if not right at the top) of their list of favourites. Wyken apples are of comparatively small size. On the trees, they remain green for a while, but eventually begin to achieve an attractive yellowish complexion, often suffused with touches of bronze. As they hang before maturing they might well be mistaken for little "cookers" or uncommonly big "crabs", and I suspect that the wayside wildling may have been by no means a remote ancestor of these pippins. Ready for picking in late September or early October, the Wykens are then hard and for the most part unpalatable, though already possessing a certain sweetness and promise. Their fame is well justified. The little apples are splendid "keepers". Their yellow colour deepens in the store, and they  become aromatic, superbly sweet and tender, with a flavour all of their own. They are at their best about Christmas, but can often be kept for a month or two longer - if any should survive the festive season. Mortimer's  early eighteenth-century "Husbandry" says that pippins (in general) "take their name from the small spots or pips that usually appear on the sides of them." Wyken Pippins have this feature.

Trees  of the Wyken apple grow fairly rapidly, and are generally reliable, frequently prolific, fruit-bearers. Last year seems to have been an especially good year for the kind in places where the blossom did not suffer from  the severe May frosts. My own standard tree of some forty years growth produced a crop of about 350lb. As a further encouragement to the cultivation of the Pippins, it is worth noting that they are self-fertile: they do not require to be in proximity to apples of other variety in order to ensure that the blossoms shall set. In Langford's "Staffordshire and Warwickshire," published about 1875, it is stated that the occupant of  the Wyken manor house was then William Henry Skelton, Esq., and that the original apple tree brought from Holland by Admiral Craven was still in the garden there. I have not been able to confirm this remarkable assertion. The tree may have been a descendant of an earlier one; but, at any rate, it is evident that there were Wyken Pippins in their original English home a century and a half after the first planting there. Today,  Wyken manor house is no more. A cinema stands near its site and several streets have been cut through the grounds. Modern Coventry has engulfed rural Wyken and the famous apples no longer grow there. Yet, happily, the thought of the past is kept alive by an inn, albeit of recent erection, which proudly bears the sign of "The Wyken Pippin." At the period of the introduction of the apple to Wyken the little place had only thirteen houses (according to Dr. William Thomas, 1730). Now its dwellings number over 2,000. But the ancient country church survives, some of its features dating back to Norman times. It has not wholly escaped the scars of war, and the fine east window, on which the arms of the Craven family were emblazoned, has been completely destroyed. In the chancel is an old throne like chair of Dutch or Flemish workmanship, its design  fantastic in the extreme. Two winged men sit backwards upon dragons, the heads of which are turned to bite the wings; in contrast a little cherub perches above them. It seems not unlikely that the chair was brought to Wyken by that same Admiral Craven to whom we owe the pippin. It may, or may not be coincidental that the arms of the Cravens include two dragons.

Taken from an unknown and undated magazine source.

The Wyken Pippin

How many people know the Wyken Pippin? No not the public house  the apple tree. Reading a book "The Apples of England" by H.V. Taylor, I was fascinated to learn that the Wyken Pippin is not merely the name of a public house but of an apple tree  which had its origin from seed saved from an apple which Lord Craven ate on his travels from France to Holland, and which was planted at Wyken, near Coventry. It was, apparently, introduced about 1720, and the original tree was  still in existence in 1827. It is co-parent with Cox's Orange Pippin of the famous Laxton's Superb. It is described as "a valuable and delicious dessert apple of the first quality." Are there still Wyken Pippins growing  at Wyken? There ought to be.

Taken from Warwickshire Notebook, Coventry Standard 9th November 1956

Wyken Hunt Ends in Isle of Wight

BOSSES at Severn Trent Water got the pip when they couldn't find a Warwickshire apple species to plant in a new orchard at the Finham sewage treatment works in Coventry. Despite trying 25 nurseries ¥-from Coventry and Warwickshire to the apple growing region of Somerset - their search proved fruitless until someone suggested they try a nursery on the Isle of Wight. Sure enough, the nursery came up trumps, providing 10 Wyken Pippins, also known as Warwickshire Pippins, which were raised from seedlings at Wyken in the 18th century. Delighted Seven Trent bosses are now watching the trees flourish at Finham. They have already produced the first apples of the summer. District manager Jim Robinson said: "Having decided to plant an orchard on the works, we felt it important to protect and preserve indigenous species for the future, particularly as local varieties of fruit trees appear to be disappearing fast in Warwickshire. We proved the point when we started our  search locally for native saplings and drew a blank" The lack of local species of apple available is not surprising, according to Bob Sherman, gardens curator at Ryton Organic Gardens near Coventry. He said, "The problem is there are only a limited number of people specialising in unusual varieties." "They were lucky to find anyone really. A couple of years ago, Wykens were very difficult to come by but there has been a renewed interest in the past few years." Seven Trent's orchard is one of the natural features being developed at the 100-acre sire, which treats about 25 million gallons of sewage a day from the Coventry area. A wildlife garden, incorporating  a pond and a teasel garden designed to attract gold finches, has recently been added to the existing nature trail around the works.

 Taken from The Coventry Evening Telegraph, 1998

Wyken Pippin Wins A New Lifespan

By Fiona Scott

Environment reporter,

TWO HUNDRED saplings of an endangered species of apple tree  are being saved for the next millennium thanks to Coventry schoolchildren, the city'' Groundwork Trust and generous city people. The Wyken Pippin, a small dessert apple is believed to have been introduced to Britain by Lord Craven  who planted the seed of a Continental apple in the village of Wyken. An alternative theory is that it came to Britain from Holland in the early 1700's and cross-bred with Cox's Orange Pippins. But whatever the correct story about  its arrival in Coventry, the tree looked set to disappear completely as fewer and fewer of the old variety were planted and properly raised. One of the best-known remaining stocks of the tree was in the Kingsway orchard off Binley Road, which was partly flattened to make way for Coventry's North South Road. Only a few Wyken Pippins remain there. Bob Keith, executive director of environmental organisation Groundwork Coventry said, "At first it looked like we might have been too late to save the pippin and the other old fruit trees. The only remaining trees were so old and so badly damaged that taking cuttings that would develop into new young trees was always going to be difficult" So he appealed for people living in Coventry and Warwickshire to check their gardens, orchards and farms for Wyken Pippins - and was surprised when more than 40 answered. Groundwork staff visited every caller to check  the trees and drew up a short-list of healthy ones - from Kingsway orchard, Sunnie farm near Brandon, Binley Vicarage and Four Pounds Avenue allotments. Then a class of pupils from Bishop Ullathorne RC School in Coventry spent a day collecting cuttings from the most promising sites and grafting them on to new apple tree rootstock. More than 200 trees were potted up in one day and are now being looked after by staff at Warwick University. They will stay  there for about one year before being planted out across the city for the millennium. Mr Keith said, "The trees cannot be grown from pips because there is no guarantee the seedlings will be genetically true to the tree the apples have come from - they could have been pollinated by a different variety." Amazingly, more than 90 per cent of the grafts seem to have worked. The children will be keeping their fingers crossed over the school holidays, but  thanks to the support of the university it looks like we might be able to mark the millennium by saving part of the regions historic past."

Taken from Coventry Evening Telegraph, 1999

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