A REMARKABLE “detective story” has emerged about the Scottish soldiers whose remains were found in a mass grave in Durham almost 400 years after they died.

The National has previously told the story of how more than 3000 soldiers captured by the forces of Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650 were taken south and imprisoned in Palace Green in Durham.

Around 1700 of the men died there in horrendous conditions, and their bodies were stripped naked and were buried in two unmarked mass graves in Palace Green.

Archaeologists at Durham University carried out scientific analysis on 28 skeletons discovered in the mass graves at the Durham Unesco world heritage site in November 2013.

As Durham University explained: “In September 2015 the project team was able to conclude that ‘the only plausible’ explanation was that the skeletons were those of Scottish soldiers captured by English forces following the Battle of Dunbar in September 1650 and taken to Durham on the orders of Oliver Cromwell.”

The battle was a total victory for Cromwell’s New Model Army, who may have killed up to 5000 Scottish troops who were poorly commanded by Protestant clerics. Modern calculations suggest that an estimated 6000 Scottish soldiers were captured – around 1000 who were sick and wounded were then released.

About 1000 of the remainder are believed to have died en route to Durham from a combination of hunger, exhaustion and gastric problems – probably dysentery. Others were executed, while some escaped.

Approximately 3000 Scottish soldiers in total were then imprisoned in Durham Cathedral and Castle, at a time when the cathedral was empty and abandoned, its dean and chapter having been evicted and worship suppressed by order of Oliver Cromwell, as was the case with all English cathedrals at that time

Although the exact figures are not known, it is thought that close to 1700 Scottish soldiers died of malnutrition and disease before being buried.

Teams from Durham University and Durham Cathedral worked with partners and interested parties to determine what should happen to the remains of the Scottish soldiers and to plan an appropriate commemoration and reburial services.

A commemorative plaque was unveiled in May 2017 close to where the remains of the Scottish soldiers were discovered. Following completion of the research work, the remains of the Scottish soldiers were reburied in Durham last month.

Now an exhibition has been opened by the Scottish Soldiers Project of the department of archaeology at Durham University. It is taking place, appropriately enough, in Palace Green Library, close to the site where the bodies were found.

Thanks to innovative use of technology, the exhibition explains how the skeletons were identified and tells the stories of the men who survived the experience.

It features a 3D print out of one of the skeletons as well as 3D reconstruction of one of the soldier’s faces.

Project research lead professor Chris Gerrard, from Durham University, said: “We dug up skeletons but we ended up with people. That’s something we couldn’t have done ten years ago.

“It’s a good detective story but it’s unravelled over so many years.”

Professor Charlotte Roberts, a bio-archaeologist at Durham University added: “We excavated 28 skeletons but the amount of information we got was huge.

“Techniques have developed so much over the years that we have been able to tell a story we just would never have known if it was 30 years ago.”

Also in the exhibition is the remarkable story of the survivors. Some 40 were sent to Shields to work on the salt pans while 150 were put on a boat to America.

According to the Northern Echo: “Their descendants, now estimated to number between a quarter and half a million, include actor Jon Cryer, who visited Palace Green while filming the American version of TV genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are, and model Kate Upton.

“Some of the descendants have been involved in the creation of the exhibition and feature in a film shown as part of it.”

Gerrard added: “For me the most interesting part has been discovering the descendant community and finding people living in the US who had family who went through the experience in Durham and ended up working in the colony in New England.

“I’ve given lectures where I had to stop because people were crying. The reason they were overwhelmed was that if their ancestors had been a step to the left or a step to the right, they wouldn’t have survived.

“We don’t often get that direct connection between the present and the past.”

Curator Julie Biddlecombe-Brown said: “I grew up in Durham and this has been a mystery for such a long time. I grew up knowing about the Scottish prisoners but we didn’t know what happened to them.

“For me, it’s telling a story of people whose story had been lost. They have died in quite horrible circumstances and this feels like an opportunity to give them the dignity and respect they didn’t have.”