In February 1906, the Wallsend and Hebburn Coal Company began sinking a new shaft on land beside Rising Sun Farm. The purpose was to overcome gas and drainage problems at Wallsend Colliery's G Pit, also known as Church Pit, while reducing the distance miners had to travel underground to reach the coalface. After two years of construction, the shaft reached the Bensham Seam at a depth of 768 feet and became Rising Sun Colliery No. 1 Shaft.
As production expanded, work began on a second shaft in 1912. On 27 August 1915, No. 2 Shaft reached the Bensham Seam, allowing Rising Sun Colliery to operate independently of Wallsend Colliery's G Pit. The colliery continued to develop over the following decades and, by 1931, it was the only remaining working colliery in Wallsend.
Output reached around 10,000 tons of coal per week by 1953, prompting the National Coal Board to invest £2.5 million in a major reconstruction programme. Work began in 1956 on a new No. 3 Shaft, 22 feet in diameter and 1,400 feet deep. Coal was first drawn from the shaft in 1960, and the project was completed in 1961. Described as one of the National Coal Board's most significant reconstruction schemes since nationalisation in 1947, it included extensions to existing buildings, a new laboratory, workshops, powder magazine, fan house and pay office. Dominating the site was a 115-foot-high concrete winding tower based on a Swedish design and equipped with modern multi-rope friction winding gear. The new shaft was expected to increase production by a further 1,000 tons per day.
The original shafts were retained for ventilation and the transport of men and materials, while the old G Pit continued pumping around three million gallons of water from the mine each day. Despite the extensive investment, the future of the colliery was increasingly uncertain. By 1965, closure was being discussed, even though the pit was producing an average of 2,000 tons of saleable coal per day and had received numerous commendations for safety.
The workforce campaigned vigorously to keep the colliery open, taking its case as far as Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Nevertheless, closure was announced at the beginning of 1969. At the time, Rising Sun employed 1,180 men, around 500 of whom lived in Wallsend.
The final shift took place on 25 April 1969, with Albert Evans, becoming the last man to come up the shaft. The colliery officially closed the following day, ending 61 years of coal production at Rising Sun and bringing coal mining in Wallsend to a close.
Reclamation of the site was underway by 1973, and in 1974 the distinctive concrete winding tower was demolished, removing the last major landmark of the colliery from the Wallsend skyline.