Parys Mountain was mined for copper as far back as the Bronze Age and there is evidence also that the Romans were involved - indeed what were they not involved in? It was in the 18th Century that the mountain was exploited to the full and the mine became the world's leading copper producer. It is a strange and desolate area and you could easily imagine it as a moonscape but if we believed that the real moon was made of Cheddar cheese then this one was made of Red Leicester.