Prisoners of Civil War are laid to rest after 350 years
THE remains of 17th century Scots soldiers discovered in a mass grave were reburied in a funeral ceremony yesterday.
The men were prisoners of war captured after the Battle of Dunbar more than 350 years ago. Their skeletons were found during renovation at the University of Durham in 2013 and have been undergoing analysis ever since.
Yesterday, in a traditional ceremony featuring psalms from a 1650 Bible, they were laid to rest in a cemetery less than a mile from where they were found.
Professor Chris Gerrard, of the university’s department of archaeology, said: ‘It was important to us to lay them to rest with respect and dignity.’
The battle in 1650 was one of the bloodiest of the Civil War. The Scots supporters of Charles II died while being kept prisoner at Durham Castle.