The burial aisle of the Pringles with a lintel bearing the date 1686 and an inscribed stone stating that it "marks the site of the ancient sanctuary and once powerful hospice of Soutra". Burial aisles were built by wealthy families after the Church of Scotland directed in 1590 that no monuments to the dead should be erected inside churches. The Pringles made use of stone from the old hospital buildings at Soutra when they built their aisle.
A set of information boards at the site assists visitors in understanding the history of the mediaeval hospital, although those facing west have weathered considerably to the point where they have become illegible.
They reveal that the first recorded mention of the hospital occurs in 1164 AD when King Malcolm IV (r.1141-65) confirmed its charter. The exact date and circumstances of its founding are not known. It stood on the "royal road" (via regia) on the line of the extension into Scotland of Roman Deere Street where it crossed Soutra. The hospital was run by brothers of the Augustinian order who looked after the poor, travellers and pilgrims, and the aged, sick and infirm. It appears that the location was chosen because of the presence of streams which were converted into two deep water wells.
By the 14th century the brothers had acquired more lands which steadily increased their power and wealth, despite the hospital's location in an almost perpetual war zone between the Scottish and English kingdoms. After victory in the battle of Neville's Cross
Link King Edward III of England redrew the line of the Anglo-Scottish border from Cockburnspath in Berwickshire along the edge of the Lammermuirs to Soutra in order to hold the high ground from which to dominate Lothian. The victory of the Scots at the battle of Otterburn in 1388 restored the status quo ante.
Link
Following a scandal in the 1460s involving a wayward Master, Stephen Fleming, which led to complaints being made to the Papal authorities, the Crown confiscated the hospital's estates (apart from Soutra itself) and transferred them to the Trinity College Church in Edinburgh. This sowed the seeds of Edinburgh's rise to becoming a medical centre of international renown while Soutra continued, its importance now diminished, until around 1650. Thereafter, the buildings were removed and the gardens and waste-dumps turned over to farming. Excavations and tests of medical waste at the site have revealed much about the medicines the monks ministered to their patients. Examples of these and their curative effects are listed on one of the information boards.
The restoration of the aisle was undertaken by the Fala, Soutra and District History and Heritage Society, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and other local and national heritage organisations, in 1998-99. The dates of regular on-site talks are advertised at the entrance.
(The above information has been taken from the site information boards which are the work of Dr. Brian Moffat of Fala Village, Pathhead.)