Mono Monday : Heritage

This little object, a compass set in a piece of Cornish serpentine stone, is one of the earliest things I can remember. It stood on a shelf of the whatnot in the front room of my maternal grandparents' house in Chichester.
My mum's family came from a long line of farm workers in East Anglia, but her dad's father branched out and became a steam engine driver. One of his jobs must have taken him to Cornwall, where he settled, and my grandfather was born in St. Austell.
I never realised it until I visited Cornwall myself, but my grandfather had a wonderful Cornish accent. I can still hear it every time I hold the compass and look at the beautiful stone, glossy dark brown flecked with green.