Sytch, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

Sytch - a small area north west of Burslem town centre. [sometimes spelt "sitch"]

The Sytch starts at Hill Top and encompasses the area around Westport Road as it runs down, over Scotia Brook, to Brownhills Road at the bottom.

"The Sytch was the dark heart of the Potteries, an immense stretch of ground composed in almost equal parts of bare clay earth, black water, mud, industrial detritus both active and abandoned, and fumigerous furnaces, belching forth fire, ashes and smoke."
"The Vanished Landscape", a 1930's Childhood in the Potteries.  by Paul Johnson

Development of the name:
> In 1750 the road was called 'The Sytch' and the brook 'Sytch Brook'.
> By 1800 the road is still marked on the map as 'The Sytch" and the brook recorded as 'Scotia Brook'.
> The 1832 map has two roads, one unnamed and the other 'Sytch Hollow', the unnamed road was known as 'Hill Street'.
> 1832 - 1878 the road was called 'Liverpool Road' (although some maps show a side road still called "The Sytch")
> 1878 onwards the road was named 'Westport Road'

Potters on The Sytch:
This section of an 1800 map shows two potters on The Sytch: Holland & Co and J&R Hall. At Hill Top (the entrance to The Sytch) stood the manufactories of Ralph Wood and Robinson & Son

Holland & Co
J&R Hall (Succeeded by the Till family) @ the Sytch Works
Ralph Wood
Robinson & Son @ the Hill Top Pottery