He was a tanner, and lived in the parish of St Margaret's Ipswich, which occupies the area directly to the north of the town centre, outside the medieval earth rampart.
The church of St Margaret's stands adjacent to Christchurch Mansion and Park, which was built during Wyl Pyckes' lifetime.
The Mansion stood on the site of the former Holy Trinity Priory, one of the two houses of Augustinian canons in the town, which was dissolved and became the property of Sir Thomas Pope (friend of Thomas More, Wolsey's successor as Chancellor), before being demolished to make way for the new brick mansion built by Edmund Withypoll.
He was a believer in the reformed faith, and was of a hospitable disposition, generous toward the poor, and often opened his doors to give comfort to those who were hunted for their beliefs.
His name appears in a list of dissenting persons of St Margaret's, drawn up on 18 May 1556, entitled A complaint against such as favoured the Gospell in Ipswich, exhibited to Queene Marie's Counsaile.
Various people, including the women present, escaped either from the close, or from the company as they were led away to the brew-house nearby but the men were divided into groups and taken away among the soldiers.
Those who remained obstinate were then presented an inquisition of fourteen articles, by Edmund Bonner, to which they were required to make satisfactory answers or be condemned.