At its peak in 1900 the colliery employed 139 below ground and 22 at the surface. It had been offered for sale in 1857, when an advert said it covered an area of 93 acres, taking in seams of coal and fireclay beneath Cringle Dykes Farm and beyond.

There was a clay pit on site, suggesting brick production had gone on for some time, but it grew in the early 20th century and was split between the use of fireclay and ganister. The latter was used to make silica bricks, which could survive very high temperatures in furnaces and kilns. The colliery worked four seams, the deepest being the Busty at 45 metres. It was 1.6 metres thick, of which the middle 92cm consisted of seggar, the more shaly variety of fireclay used for brick-making.

It was transported from the colliery in tubs along a horse-drawn tramway before being shovelled into a mill to be ground into a fine powder. It seems likely that the opening of a new coking plant boosted employment as there were 22 men and boys in 1896, but four years later this had risen to 139 below ground and 22 at the surface. The colliery was owned by the Lackenby Iron Company in the 1870s. In 1902 the West Hunwick Colliery Company was formed and traded until 1914, when the West Witton Ganister Firebrick Company took over, suggesting that brick-making was taking precedence.

Munitions work was also taken on during the war, although it cost a 17-yearold girl her life when her coat sleeve was caught in the machinery and dragged her in. In 1925 the Hunwick Silica and Firebrick Company was established and a new yard was built purely for the production of silica bricks. These were very fragile and needed special railway wagons with shock absorbers to carry them. The old yard continued to produce fireclay bricks and there was a big enough stockpile of fireclay for production to continue for two years after the colliery closed in 1937. During the second world war the new yard made silica bricks for steelworks, gasworks and coke works. In 1946, when 230 men were employed, the old Newcastle kilns were replaced by 24 double-ended, coal-fired kilns. These were demolished in 1970, with production relying on gas and oil-fired kilns. J and J Dyson took over in 1967, and while specialising in ceramics they continue to produce furnace bricks for export all over the world, using imported fireclay.