A PORT Glasgow man unearthed a piece of history after finding a commemorative coronation medal dating back to 1911.

Ian MacLennan had kept it safely stored in a box for years but his interest was recently reignited after reading the Tele's Variorum memories page from 100 years ago.

The flashback column said schoolchildren had received the keepsake to mark the coronation of King George V and HRH Queen Mary.

Ian, 61, made the find around 20 years ago after taking up metal detecting as a hobby.

He said: "I got into metal detecting as a bit of fun and to take up a hobby.

"I found the medal on the farmers fields in Port Glasgow.

"At first I thought it was a little medallion.

"I cleaned it up, covered it in tomato sauce and left it overnight then I cleaned it with a toothbrush.

"It came up really well and I put it away in a wooden box.

"When I read the Variorum from the past column and it said that school children had been given a medal I thought to myself - 'I've got one of those'."

Mr MacLennan is no stranger to royalty - having met the Queen and Prince Philip and other members of the Royal family.

He served in the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders for 12 years and after that was in the Royal Military Police in the territorial army.

He said: "I was part of the royal guard at Balmoral in the 1980s and the Queen came down to our barracks at Ballater.

"She thanked us for providing the guard over the six week period.

"She was very small - I remember I made the mistake of calling her ma'am instead of 'your highness'."

Mr MacLennan says he would be happy to hand over the medal to the Watt Institution.

He said: "It's a part of Inverclyde's history."