Mickley Coal Company had built a firebrick works at the colliery in 1870 and it continued to flourish. In 1927 eighteen people were employed in the brickyard. There was a Schofield brick press which produced 45,000 common bricks per week. The bricks were burned in a twenty-chamber Belgian kiln, which was enlarged in the 1930’s when another eight chambers were added. The brickyard also had six old Newcastle kilns, each capable of holding 12,500 bricks, which were used when the required output could not be met by Schofield. Most of the clay used for the bricks came from the drifts at West Wylam but later on, clay was obtained from Hedley Park Drift and from the opencast site at Horsley. Facing bricks were sold to local builders. By 1960 the output of the brickyard was 75,000 per week! The brickworks continued operating well into the 1970’s, outliving the life of the colliery.

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