The Wallsend and Hebburn Coal Company opened a brickworks at Rising Sun Colliery in 1908, making use of shale brought to the surface from the pit to manufacture bricks for use across the company's mining operations. The brickworks became an important part of the colliery complex, making use of material produced during coal extraction.
A 2½‑foot layer of shale from the Main Coal Seam provided the primary raw material. By 1924, the yard operated three shifts a day, with just eight men employed on each shift.
Bricks were fired in a 16‑chamber Hoffman kiln, each chamber capable of holding around 10,500 bricks and reaching temperatures of up to 1050°C. Over time, the kiln was modernised. The chimney was reduced in height in 1963, an electric fan was installed to improve draught, and in 1965 an Octopus Automatic Feeding system was introduced to modernise the firing process.
Shale supplies changed during the 1960s. Between 1963 and 1965, material was brought from Ewart Hill and Acorn Bank, while higher‑quality shale from Wardley was used from 1965 to 1968 to produce second engineering bricks. Bradley and Craven brick presses were used and could produce 14,000 bricks during an 8½‑hour shift. At its peak in the 1960s, the brickworks employed 18 men and produced around 86,000 bricks each week.
Bricks bearing the Rising Sun brickworks stamp have been found in Second World War coastal defence structures along the Northumberland coast, suggesting that bricks from the works were used in at least some wartime construction projects. Bricks from the works were also used in the construction of the Rising Sun Cottages.
Although the brickworks has long since disappeared, examples of its products survive. A Rising Sun brick is displayed on the Brick Heritage Monument at Path Head Water Mill, Summerhill, Blaydon. Built in 2022 by Chris Tilney and his son Mark, the monument celebrates the North East's brickmaking heritage and preserves bricks from many of the region's historic works.
More recently, the Friends of Rising Sun Country Park received a donation of heritage bricks produced by the Wallsend and Hebburn Coal Company. The group is currently working on a project to display these bricks within the wildlife garden at the Countryside Centre, helping visitors connect with an important part of the park's industrial past.
Information on Rising Sun Colliery Brickworks is drawn principally from Brickworks of the North East by Peter J. Davidson.