Description:Postcard with a view of a pottery waste area called a Shard Ruck. Taken in the Potteries, Staffordshire.
Shard Ruck, always known locally as a shraff tip, was most probably at or near the Daisy Bank Marl hole and waste tip. William Blake took several photos of the Daisy Bank Marl Hole in the Edensor district of Longton.
Additionally, on this photo there is in the top left a very faint image of what looks like St. James' Church tower high on the hill on Uttoxeter Road, and what is possibly Harvey’s enormous chimney.
Shraff Tip Ltd occupied a pottery waste site not far from the Edensor district of Longton on Longton Hall Road from 1921 for about 90 years. It was at one time a Royal Doulton Associated Company.
Information on the back of this postcard places the date for this image at 1875. Blake was not born until the mid 1870s. This photograph was taken at around the turn of the century. The early dating was possibly designed to give the postcard added nostalgic appeal.
Note: At certain magnifications a patterning effect will appear on this image due the nature of the original.
Photographer: William Blake of Longton