In 1650, Durham Cathedral was used by Cromwell as a makeshift prison to hold Scottish prisoners-of-war after the Battle of Dunbar of September 3, 1650. It is estimated that as many as 3,000 prisoners died in the cathedral itself, where they were kept in inhumane conditions, largely without food, water or heat. The prisoners destroyed much of the cathedral woodwork for firewood but Prior Castell's clock, featuring the Scottish thistle, was spared. Their bodies were buried in unmarked graves. The survivors were shipped as slave labour to North America. In 1946 during work to install a new central heating system at the Cathedral, a mass grave of the Scottish soldiers was uncovered. In 1993 the Scottish Covenanter's Memorials Association discussed with the Cathedral the construction of a memorial to the soldiers, however, this appears to have been inconclusive, since no memorial has yet been created. A campaign properly to respect and remember the "Dunbar Martyrs" was launched at the end of 2007, aiming as a minimum to gain a Christian blessing for the dead and a memorial at the Cathedral burial site or even possible exhumation of the remains and reburial in Scotland. FREE POSTAGE on this item.(UK only)

see "Durham Cathedral" on Glenn Gibson's website