A PETITION set up to see the skeletons of Scottish soldiers who died in Durham returned home has nearly reached its target.

Earlier this month, it was announced that new analysis carried out on skeletons discovered in a centuries-old mass grave in Durham had led experts to conclude they were the remains of Scottish soldiers taken prisoner after the 1650 Battle of Dunbar.

Now, George Wilson, a historian from Dunbar, is calling for those remains to be brought back north of the Border.

The petition is attempting to reach 500 signatures and is only 17 signatures short of the total.

It reads: “It is 365 years since the Battle of Dunbar and surely time for appropriate respect.

“With this welcome confirmation of the hitherto unknown location of mass grave it is here proposed that the remains of the Scots soldiers are returned and repatriated to their homeland of Scotland and to an appropriate site for re-burial.

“As an individual involved in earlier campaigning for respect and remembrance of the soldiers, I have been asked by Durham University for thoughts on 'next steps'.

“I would like to gauge the strength of feeling for proposed repatriation to Scotland and in turn to provide this proposal to the University as a possible next step.”

The Battle of Dunbar was one of the most brutal, bloody and short battles of the 17th Century civil wars.

In less than an hour the English Parliamentarian army, under the command of Oliver Cromwell, defeated the Scottish Covenanting army who supported the claims of Charles II to the Scottish throne.

Although the exact figures are not known, it is thought that about 1,700 Scottish soldiers died of malnutrition, disease and cold after being marched more than 100 miles from the south east of Scotland to Durham.

They were then imprisoned in Durham Cathedral and Castle, by then disused for several years.

Until earlier this month, mystery surrounded what had happened to their bodies but researchers at the city's university believe they have begun to solve the puzzle.

To view the petition, go to www.change.org/p/durham-university-repatriate-the-remains-of-the-dunbar-martyrs.