THIS is not so much an example of Freethy's England as of Freethy's Wales, but my journey this week began as a result of a family photograph, writes RON FREETHY

My grandfather was a copper miner at Coniston and later an iron miner in Cumbria and his picture set me wondering where metal mining first began.

I discovered that Britain was once the world centre of the Bronze Age industry and amid a flurry of snow I headed for Llandudno and the Great Orme copper mines which have recently been opened to the public.

It is still being excavated and archaeologists from all over the world are gathering to gasp in astonishment at the discoveries.

Experts agree that Stonehenge is the most important prehistoric site in Britain but the Bronze Age copper mines at the Great Orme are fast becoming a major rival. The Great Orme Exploration Society was formed in 1985, led by the knowledge and enthusiasm of Duncan James, Tony Hammond, Cindy Lewis and Edric Roberts.

Ongoing excavations at the copper mine have shown that a massive industry was thriving around 1400BC and that bronze from all over the western world was exported.

Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin and both metals were found in Britain during prehistoric times. There is evidence to suggest that Joseph of Arimathea, the uncle of Jesus, was a tin merchant trading in Britain.

Copper occurs in veins and these ancient mines followed the lines of the solidified metal and this is why the tunnels which are being excavated seem to twist and turn.

The Neolithic people had very simple tools, including stone hammers. They also used animal bones, especially the antlers of deer.

More than one thousand of these tools have been found so far and now finds are being made by the day.

I was taken down into the bowels of the workings which lead out from the new visitors centre. The shafts are illuminated and I was shown the narrow mine workings as well as the huge caverns which were used to gather the ore before sending it to the surface for smelting.

Work is about to start on excavating the smelting plant and this will become yet another major tourist attraction. Within the mines the resident archaeologists have found areas where fires were lit against the face of a rock which weakened it so much that it cracked and was easier to mine.

Some fires were more than 200 feet down and this suggested a sophisticated system of ventilation. Edric Roberts showed how this was done using skins as curtains and the system has been set working for the first time since the mines were abandoned more than 3000 years ago.

I love the excitement of seeing history being unravelled and that is why I was delighted to cross the border and explore a bit of Freethy's Wales.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.