Skeletons found near Durham cathedral were Oliver Cromwell's prisoners

Archaeologists shed new light on 365-year-old mystery by identifiying remains of one of bloodiest battles of English civil war

Skeletons found in two mass graves next to Durham cathedral have been revealed to be the remains of Scottish soldiers taken prisoner on the orders of Oliver Cromwell in one of the bloodiest battles of the 17th-century civil wars.

Archaeologists at Durham University on Wednesday published the results of more than 18 months' research into the mystery of the jumbled skeletons of between 17 and 28 people that had lain untouched for more than 350 years.