Parys Mountain

Parys Mountain lies south of Amlwch on Anglesey’s north-east coast, a grassy hill under 150 metres high. Once called Trysclwyn, it was renamed after Robert Parys, a 15th-century Chamberlain of North Wales. The site was mined for copper as early as the Bronze Age, with evidence from nearly 4,000 years ago. Roman copper ingots found nearby suggest later activity, though no datable Roman pottery has been recovered. The mountain’s name now refers to the remains of a vast 18th-century copper mine rather than its modest height. The mine’s 18th-century boom began in 1768 when Rowland Pugh found the ‘Great Lode’ just seven feet down. By the 1780s, Parys Mountain and its neighbour Mona Mine produced more copper than anywhere in Europe. The ore was shipped from Amlwch’s expanded harbour to sheath Royal Navy ships, boosting their speed and endurance. The Parys Mine Company even struck its own copper coins, the Anglesey Penny, to pay workers and local people. The industry left behind kilns, furnaces and chemical works that turned mine waste into pigments and acids. Today a waymarked trail circles the hill, offering views over Amlwch Port and the Trysglwyn wind farm. Visitors can follow paths across the scarred landscape of old pits and spoil heaps. Underground, the Parys Underground Group leads explorations of reclaimed mine passages. The mountain still holds untouched mineral zones, including six and a half million tonnes of ore containing zinc, lead, copper, silver and gold. Recent drilling aims to assess these resources for future mining, keeping Parys Mountain a living chapter of industrial history.