Wyken, a suburb of Coventry, West Midlands, England, is situated between the areas of Stoke and Walsgrave, three miles east-northeast of Coventry city centre. The population of this Coventry Ward taken at the 2011 census was 16,818.[1] It is a fairly large ward spreading as far as the Binley area. The majority of the houses in Wyken are terraced houses.
The original parish ran close to the River Sowe and was mainly flat except for Wyken Heath and Wyken Knob near Stoke Heath.
The oldest building within Wyken is Saint Mary Magdalene's Church, located within Wyken Croft, which dates to the early 11th century. The village developed opposite the church and remained a small settlement until the 18th century at which point it began to expand. This original layout has since evolved as Wyken was incorporated into Coventry in 1932 resulting in boundary changes. Wyken became much larger than the original village and in the latest boundary change of 1993, Wyken received Coombe Fields from the parish of Rugby.
The churchyard of St Mary Magdalene's church has been known to generations of residents as the site of a pirate grave dating to some time in the 19th century. The legend had it that to summon the spectre one had to run around the grave three times. This legend later evolved to running around the church itself three times followed by throwing a stone through the windows of the church, which led to the removal of the headstone by the vicar of the parish in the 1960s.[3] It is also said to be the birthplace of St George in Caludon Castle, of which only one wall remains.
St. Mary Magdalene's church is the oldest church in Coventry, being 900 years old; along with The Church of the Risen Christ only a few meters away, it forms one ministry (two buildings one church).[4] Both are part of a group of Anglican parishes: the group also includes two other churches, The Church of the Holy Cross in Wyken and St. Michael's in Stoke.[5]
