JTM wrote:

When I were a lad,

Pointing Nori brick was done with what looked like red sand mixed with oil.
There might have been other stuff in the mix- idon't know. One slight
drawback was that the oil (linseed I believe) was popular with the sparrows
who seemed to find it very palatable


Are you sure you aren't thinking of "red raddle", which was a
decorative treatment used to colour the bricks and/or mortar?

The bricks should be pointed with lime mortar. Treating afterwards
with red raddle is optional. ;-)