The mystery of skeletons buried centuries ago in mass graves over which a university was built has been solved as new research has revealed them to be captured Scottish soldiers.
After extensive scientific and historical analysis, researchers have concluded that “the only plausible explanation” for the remains, buried beneath Durham University, is that they belong to prisoners from the battle of Dunbar in 1650, one of the most brutal battles of the 17th-century civil wars.
Once defeated, about 1,700 Scottish soldiers are thought to have died of malnutrition, disease and cold after being marched more than 100 miles from the south east of Scotland to Durham and imprisoned in the disused cathedral and castle. What happened to their bodies had remained unknown for centuries.
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