| The Wyken Pippin in the news |
| 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 hunt ends in Isle Of Wight |
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| Pippin wins 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 beenpollinated 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. |
| 1998 - 1999 |
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