The remains of Scottish soldiers who died of starvation and disease almost 400 years ago after a brutal forced march will be reburied with honour near the site where their bodies were tipped into a mass grave in the shadow of Durham Cathedral.
The discovery, after three years of research on bones found during building work within the Unesco world heritage site of Durham’s palace and cathedral, resolves a centuries-old puzzle about what happened to 6,000 prisoners taken by the English parliamentarian army under Oliver Cromwell after the Battle of Dunbar in 1650.
Some of the men were so ill they were freed immediately, some were shot for trying to escape and others succeeded in getting away, while many died on the 100-mile march south to Durham. Some were then transported to America, while others were sent to work on draining the Fens, but it is believed that up to 1,700 died in wretched conditions in Durham’s abandoned religious and palace buildings where they were held. Most of the cathedral’s ornate medieval woodwork was burned by the prisoners in an attempt to keep warm.
Professor David Cowling, pro-vice-chancellor for arts and humanities at Durham University, said the decision to keep the bones in Durham had been complex, and reached after extensive discussions.
“We were acutely aware of the strength and depth of interest amongst many about the fate of these soldiers, whilst at the same time recognising our ethical, moral and legal obligations. All options were explored fully by the university and in the end it was felt that the case for reburying the remains in Durham and also commemorating them here with a plaque was strongest.”
Canon Rosalind Brown, of Durham Cathedral, said it was hoped that those interested in the story of the Scottish soldiers, including churches in Scotland, would now join in planning “a fitting and dignified reburial and commemoration”.
Archaeologists believe hundreds more bodies probably still lie under the nearby buildings, which is partly why the decision has been taken to rebury the skeletons nearby, instead of – as some had suggested – repatriating them to Scotland. Stone will be brought from Dunbar for the memorial plaque, and Scottish soil may be brought in for their new grave. An existing plaque in the cathedral will be reworded to record that their burial place is now known.
The two mass graves, described as holding “numerous skeletons laid in a disordered fashion” were found as archaeologists monitored a site being prepared for a new cafe, within a courtyard enclosed by medieval buildings that are now part of the Palace Green Library.
Skeletons had been found near the site before, including a mass grave of bodies packed together and buried without coffins found during building work in the 1940s. That find was poorly recorded, but this time the archaeologists found the jumbled remains of up to 28 individuals and have been studying them ever since.
The scientists found that all those who could be identified were young adult males, some with worn teeth from pipe smoking. There was evidence that some of the bodies had been left exposed for long enough after their death to be gnawed by animals – possibly as open mass graves were gradually filled as the death toll mounted.
Richard Annis, senior archaeologist with the Durham University archaeology unit, said when the identification of the Scottish soldiers was confirmed last year: “Their burial was a military operation: the dead bodies were tipped into two pits, possibly over a period of days. They were at the far end of what would have been the Durham castle grounds, as far as possible from the castle itself – they were out of sight, out of mind.”
The reburial will probably happen next year, when research is complete on the remains, including analysis of teeth to try to establish where the soldiers came from and details of their diet and health.
