Caerphilly cheese was originally a moist curd, made in local farms. It has since been replaced with a much drier version produced on an industrial scale. However, there still remain some cheesemakers producing Caerphilly in the old style on an artisan basis. The cheese was originally made to feed the coal miners of the area. It has subsequently been suggested that the salt content of the cheese was required by manual workers, and it can be cut into wedges and does not dry out in the conditions underground. Caerphilly became a centre for cheese production, but over time competing demands for the milk required resulted in production of the cheese moving to England at the start of the 20th century.