hurworth,
sorry I didn't reply at the time, don't think I got a notification. Unfortunately all my older relatives are dead, I got 2 of my cousins tested but they get even less of a match than me.
Alexandrina,
Thomas Pringle was born in Heriot, Midlothian and moved to Ireland where my granddad was born. His earliest known male line ancestor is his grandfather James who married in Fala and Soutra in 1780. No-one seems to have been able to trace James' birth which would have been c1748, so yes they are close to Stow.
My cousin's yDNA test gets 9 matches within 3 steps at 37 markers -
Surname Most Distant Ancestor
1 Forester William Forrest b 1685 Prestonpans, East Lothian
1 Forester William Forrest b 1685 Prestonpans, East Lothian
2 Forrest James Forester b abt 1585 Edinburgh
2 Dick
2 Dick George W. Dick, b.c. 1835, Kentucky
2 Forester William Forrest b 1685 Prestonpans, East Lothian
3 Forrest Adam Forrest, b 1801, Leith, Midlothian
3 Forrest
3 Dick John Dick
although there are no Pringles the fact that they originate in the Lothians is encouraging, with the possibility that a son whose father had one of these surnames somehow became a Pringle.
I'll continue my search for a living Pringle descendant of this family who'd be prepared to be tested at my expense.
Frank