Cromwell’s Convicts: The Death March from Dunbar

Join Rosie Serdiville as she explores the fate of 5,000 Scottish prisoners following the Battle of Dunbar in 1650.

In November 2013, during the construction of a new café for Durham University’s Palace Green Library, archaeologists discovered the remains of 28 men. They were later identified as some of the 5,000 Scottish prisoners of war who had been marched south after Oliver Cromwell’s victory at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650.

In this emotive talk, Rosie Serdiville will tell the story of the ‘Trail of Tears’ - the death march on which around 2,000 of these prisoners died. She will also describe what happened to the survivors, most of whom ended up as indentured servants in the 'new world’ of the Americas.