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Skeletal remains of Cromwell’s prisoners of war found in mass graves
STRANGE REMAINS ^ | SEPTEMBER 5, 2015

Posted on 05/22/2020 11:49:05 AM PDT by robowombat

Skeletal remains of Cromwell’s prisoners of war found in mass graves on SEPTEMBER 5, 2015

Archaeologists overseeing construction at Durham University’s Palace Green Library discovered two mass graves in November of 2013. Durham University archaeologists didn’t know it at the time but these skeletal remains would solve a mystery that dates back to 1650.

On September 3rd 1650 a short but bloody battle was fought in Dunbar, Scotland between the English Parliamentarians and the Scottish Royalists during the Third English Civil War (1642-1652). In less than one hour the Parliamentarians commanded by Oliver Cromwell crushed a Scottish army loyal to Charles II (Brown 2015). An estimated 3000 Scottish soldiers perished while the English army lost less than 100 at that Battle of Dunbar.

Cromwell took 5000 men prisoner that day and marched them 100 miles south from Dunbar to Durham, England. 1000 of these men died of hunger, exhaustion, or disease during the grueling journey (Brown 2015). It’s estimated that an additional 1700 prisoners died while jailed at Durham Castle and Cathedral. Those that survived their captivity at Durham were sent to the American colonies to work as indentured servants (Brown 2015).

Historians believed that it was likely that the estimated 1700 prisoners, who died while in captivity at Durham, were buried in the area but scholars didn’t know where until the mass graves were uncovered during the construction at Durham University’s Palace Green Library in 2013, which is part of the city’s UNESCO World Heritage site (Brown 2015).

Partial skull showing pipe facets on one of the adult males unearthed at Durham University. Image credit: Richard Rayner / North News and Pictures Partial skull showing pipe facets on one of the adult males unearthed at Durham University. Image credit: Richard Rayner / North News and Pictures Durham University archaeologists carefully excavated the two mass graves then analyzed and scientifically tested the bones. Results of the scientific tests and morphological examination of the skeletal remains showed that identities of the bodies buried at Durham University were consistent with the prisoners captured by Cromwell at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650.

A physical examination of the bones revealed that the bones belonged to between 17 and 28 individuals, the ages of which were between 13 and 25 years old at the time of death. Archaeologists noted that all of the adult skeletons were male (Durham University 2015). Isotope analysis of the dental enamel revealed that some of the people were from Scotland or from Northern England (Durham University 2015).

To date the bones researchers used a combination of historical context and radiocarbon dating. Two of the skulls had pipe facets in their teeth these are “crescent-shaped areas of wear and tear” caused by smoking clay pipes (Durham University 2015). Clay pipes were commonly used in Scotland until after 1640. Radiocarbon dating placed the bodies between 1625 and 1660 (Durham University 2015).

Considering the number of Dunbar prisoners who died at Durham, archaeologists believe that there are more mass graves to be found in the area


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: cromwell
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To: Reily

LOL I think we are both right. My first post was about how Thomas Cromwell was also no slouch when it came to ruthlessness. I knew the article was about Olive Cromwell.


21 posted on 05/22/2020 1:25:40 PM PDT by mware (RETIRED)
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To: sauropod

Yes. I also liked the Tutors series although the love scenes were a little intense for US television, same with the executions.


22 posted on 05/22/2020 1:31:06 PM PDT by mware (RETIRED)
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To: sauropod

I watched the series again last month and his voice sounded so familiar. Turned out he was the voice of BFG. Now that was a really amusing movie. Especially the scene at Buckingham Palace.


23 posted on 05/22/2020 1:35:18 PM PDT by mware (RETIRED)
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To: mware

The interesting thing about Henry VIII is that while he broke with Rome over the dissolution of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn and ordered the dissolution of the monasteries which was more politically and financially motivated than religiously and largely orchestrated by Cromwell, Henry VIII was never a committed or radical protestant as was Cromwell.

After the death of Jane Grey, Henry’s third wife and the mother of his only son, Cromwell pushed for Henry’s marriage of Anne of Cleves of whom Henry is said to have said after meeting her for the first time – “I like her not”. But the marriage and its ultimate failure resulting in an annulment after 6 months was based more on the promised Franco-Imperial alliance that failed to materialize and the sway of the more religiously conservative enemies of Cromwell headed by the Duke of Norfolk.

Cromwell, further interestingly was charged with heresy.


24 posted on 05/22/2020 1:42:57 PM PDT by MD Expat in PA (No. I am not a doctor nor have I ever played one on TV. The MD in my screen name stands for Maryland)
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To: mware

Yep …. Agree about Thomas Cromwell.

If you ever get a chance to watch Upstart Crow is a great comedy series!!


25 posted on 05/22/2020 1:51:55 PM PDT by Reily
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To: robowombat

“In less than one hour the Parliamentarians commanded by Oliver Cromwell crushed a Scottish army loyal to Charles II. An estimated 3,000 Scottish soldiers perished while the English army lost less than 100 at that Battle of Dunbar.”

Wow, that was a one-sided battle. Can you imagine the noise, chaos, stench, confusion, blood, guts crammed into that one hour?


26 posted on 05/22/2020 1:53:45 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: MD Expat in PA

Didn’t know that about Cromwell being charged with heresy. Glad for Thomas Mores sake that Henry revoked his original sentence of drawn and quartered to beheading.


27 posted on 05/22/2020 1:56:50 PM PDT by mware (RETIRED)
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To: kaehurowing

Somebody posted a New York City newspaper yesterday from 1849. Cholera was breaking out all over the country. One guy in upstate NY got a letter from his brother in Rio Grande, Texas saying that 4,000 people out of a population of 20,000 had died. Healthy men went to sleep and were dead by morning.

Cholera epidemics were horrendous.


28 posted on 05/22/2020 1:57:58 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: lastchance

For my ancestor, that was during the Irish potato famine and people were literally starving to death. They were Protestant Irish, people now tell it like it was just the Catholics who were affected, but everyone was. I’ve read histories that indicate much of Northern Ireland was depopulated by the Famine, they all left for Canada or America.


29 posted on 05/22/2020 1:58:39 PM PDT by kaehurowing
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To: yesthatjallen

Probably not far off the range in our civil war. Wars are not fought by the old folks.


30 posted on 05/22/2020 2:29:39 PM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: Vermont Lt

The next one here will be.


31 posted on 05/22/2020 3:02:27 PM PDT by GreyHoundSailor
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To: MD Expat in PA
This is Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII loyal henchman and enforcer, not Oliver that lived a century later in the mid 17th century. However the two famous Cromwell's were related. The Cromwell family is an English aristocratic family. Its most famous members are: Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, and Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector. The line of Oliver Cromwell descends from Richard Williams (alias Cromwell), son of Thomas Cromwell's sister Katherine and her husband Morgan Williams. James Cromwell the motion picture actor is descended from Oliver's line in some fashion. As a younger man he was a dead ringer for ‘Old Noll’ and should have played his namesake instead of Richard Harris in the big budget turkey about Oliver.
32 posted on 05/22/2020 3:05:36 PM PDT by robowombat (Orthodox)
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To: shanover
You are correct I believe about more whites being enslaved than Africans. Most of the whites enslaved were from east central Europe and ended up in the Ottoman Empire. The slaving operations by sea rovers and Tatars on the land were very large. As an example, the Turks surprised the city of Mdina on the Maltese Island of Gozo and carried off about 20, 000 captives.
33 posted on 05/22/2020 3:22:41 PM PDT by robowombat (Orthodox)
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To: GreyHoundSailor

Don’t kid yourself. The warriors around here are all talk. Most of them couldn’t hoof it to the end of their street.


34 posted on 05/22/2020 3:36:28 PM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: mware

I’ll have to dig it out tomorrow.


35 posted on 05/22/2020 5:25:01 PM PDT by sauropod (Quarantine is when you restrict sick people, tyranny is when you restrict healthy people.)
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To: MD Expat in PA

Jane Seymour. Jane Gray was sort of Queen for a Day.


36 posted on 05/22/2020 5:33:51 PM PDT by Zirondelle76
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To: Vermont Lt

And here I thought you knew where the NEK was, where everybody over 50 is several orders of magnitude tougher than the mollycoddled teens.


37 posted on 05/22/2020 6:12:10 PM PDT by GreyHoundSailor
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To: Zirondelle76

Correct.


38 posted on 05/23/2020 3:16:57 AM PDT by MD Expat in PA (No. I am not a doctor nor have I ever played one on TV. The MD in my screen name stands for Maryland)
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