During the reign of Malcolm IV, King of the Scots, Hugh de Swinton and his fellow mosstroopers helped keep the rampaging Galloway rebels at bay. But it was for his expertise in the killing of wild boars, as protector of the Swintons' sheep flocks, that young Hugh was brought to Malcolm's attention.
But Malcolm was a pious man much concerned with the well-being of his people. And he handpicked Hugh de Swinton to mastermind a very special project close to his heart: to establish Scotland's first real hospital for the sick and poor, at Soutra in Lauderdale.

'Through his imaginative dialogue, he provides a voice for Scotland's heroes' Scotland on Sunday