File:Inscriptions commemorating two Royal Visits - geograph.org.uk - 1151603.jpg

English: Inscriptions commemorating two Royal Visits. This brick structure stands alongside a road in the Vale of Leven Industrial Estate (also sometimes called Strathleven Industrial Estate); now that the adjacent Westclox factory is long gone (the estate is now occupied by other companies), the location of this structure does not seem very prominent. As can be seen in this photograph, there are two inscribed tablets mounted on its wall. The text on the wider upper tablet reads as follows:

"Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited this estate 16th April 1953"

The smaller tablet underneath bears the inscription:

"The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh accompanied by The Princess Anne visited this estate 29th June 1971"

As was related to me many years ago by a family member who worked in the Westclox factory, Neil Armstrong and Patrick Moore also paid a visit to the estate (in 1976); no plaque records that occasion, but it was described as a Space Seminar, although it was intended to promote the introduction of the (then new) technology of using quartz crystals to regulate electronic oscillators in time-pieces. For further material relating to the visits of 1971 and 1976, see: http://clockhistory.com/westclox/company/scotland/

The initials "S I E" (for Strathleven Industrial Estate) are inscribed on the outside of this brick structure, at both ends. The rooftop visible in the background of the photograph is that of Strathleven House: 1058768.