A MEMORIAL to those who died during the Irish Famine was unveiled today outside a historic Glasgow church.  

The statue in memory of An Gorta Mór - Irish for the Great Famine - stands outside St Mary's Roman Catholic Church in the Calton. 

It commemorates the victims of the famine which afflicted Ireland between 1845 to 1852. Around one million people died as a result of starvation and illness and more fled the country.

Some settled in Scotland, England, Canada and the United States and many of their descendants retain strong links to Irish identity. 

It is the first of its kind in Glasgow, which boasts a substantial population of people of Irish descent, many of whom first landed during what is also known as the Great Hunger. 

The organisation behind the monument maintain the British government of the time were responsible for the devastation wrought by the famine. 

St Mary's is the second oldest church in the Archdiosece of Glasgow and was where Celtic FC were founded in 1888. 

Alison Thewliss, the area's MP, attended the ceremony. 

She said: "Congratulations and thanks to the dedicated An Gorta Mór Committee for their work to build this memorial to An Gorta Mór.

"A very moving ceremony to unveil The Tower of Silence in it's home in St Mary's in the Calton this afternoon."

The sculpture, called the Tower of Silence, was decide by public consultation and was designed by John McCarron.