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THIS OBJECT IS PART OF THE PROJECT 'A HISTORY OF CORNWALL IN 100 OBJECTS'.

CONSTANTINE HERITAGE CENTRE. Harry Phillips, nicknamed Dix after Dixie Dean the footballer, was a granite worker all his life and died recently. Small of stature and with a physique like Popeye, Dix was very pleased to be included in the museum. Whenever he visited he would stand in the door by himself or with a friend and look in a his head with pride.

Annie Mulaly, a local sculptress in clay, wanted to do a series of heads of all the Constantine village notables. In the end she only did this and one other. She captured Dix's chiseled features well - he could only be a granite worker!

Granite was a major industry in Constantine. It was shipped out of Gweek and Penryn for the streets and bridges of London. The most famous local landmark - a granite outcrop called the Tolmen - was destroyed in 1869. The museum is in a new annexe of the Tolmen Centre.

Photo: Bernie Pettersen