G.B. WALES. Parys Mountain. The hugh hole was created by people armed with little more than a picks, shovels and gunpowder. Not seen are miles of tunnels, shafts and vast caverns. In the 18th and 19th centuries copper was a valuable commodity for sheathing the wodden hulls of navel ships and for manufacturing cannons. About 4000 years ago Parys Mountain was mined by Bronze Age inhabitants. The Romans too capitalized on the mineral wealth. Large scale mining started in the 1770's. 2006