A MEMORIAL to the victims of the Irish famine is to be unveiled at the Catholic church where Celtic FC was founded.
A five-metre tall artwork named The Tower of Silence will be unveiled on July 25 this year at the front of St Mary’s Church in Calton, Glasgow.
The steel sculpture will feature emaciated figures to chart the story of the Irish immigrants who made new lives in Glasgow after the famine in the 19th century claimed the lives of around one million Irish.
Previously, there have been tensions in the area during Orange Order marching season, which is predominately in July.
St Mary’s parish priest Canon Tom White was spat on and verbally abused in 2018 as an Orange Walk passed by sister church St Alphonsus in Trongate after he had just said mass.
And now, some have claimed the move is provocative and could lead to further trouble.
However, organisers of An Gorta Mor Glasgow said the experience had been “positive”. The artwork, a collaboration between artist John McCarron and sculptor Maurice Harron, was brought to life by £80,000 in public donations.
Sir Tom Devine, the historian, called the organisation’s approach “brazen” and questioned whether the project was aimed at commemorating the tragedy of all families who were devastated by the tragedy, and not just some. Speaking to The Times newspaper, he highlighted the unveiling in 2001 by Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahearn of a famine monument at the Carfin Grotto in Lanarkshire.
There is also a memorial installed in Glasgow Green in 2018 dedicated to all those who died or suffered in the Irish and Highland famines.
Devine said: “It was an explicitly inclusive commemoration of dreadful times and struck an emotional chord with people of all faiths and none. Now one organisation brazenly announces a plan to soon establish, unhistorically, the ‘first’ memorial to the tragedy in the grounds of a Catholic church in Glasgow.”
Jeanette Findlay, organiser at An Gorta Mor Glasgow, said: “Some would regard as controversial anything that commemorates the plight of the Irish but getting our community involved, raising money for the project has been a positive experience for us.”
St Mary’s was the site where Brother Walfrid convened the first meeting of Celtic FC in 1888, as part of a charity intended to raise funds for the poor and provide a social outlet for the men. White told The Times that this made the church a fitting site as its history was intertwined with that of the Irish community in Scotland and that it would be hard for anyone to find controversy in the memorial.
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