Coventry was used to confine Royalist prisoners. It is believed that the phrase "send to Coventry" (being treated coldly or ignored) may have grown out of the hostile attitude of residents of the city to either the troops billeted there, or towards the Scottish Royalist prisoners held in the Church of St. John the Baptist following the Battle of Preston. Another theory stems from Coventry being a place of execution during the 16th century, where supposed heretics would be sent to be burned.