The Young Family
Of Grange and Newbigging
The Youngs were based in the Parish of Orwell (now Milnathort), Kinross-shire, until about 1786. William Young #1 was in Orwell when he married his second wife in 1784, and their first child Thomas was born in Orwell in October 1785. The Grange Brewery of Messrs Boog & Thomson was established in 1767 and was converted to a distillery in 1786; and as a distillery it was owned by the Youngs. The Youngs were certainly in Burntisland by October 1786, when their second child William was born. Putting two and two together, it's a reasonable hypothesis that, following financial difficulties, William Young and his second wife decided to embark on a new life in Burntisland around 1785-86, bought or leased Grange Farm and House (probably from the Aytouns), acquired the brewery and converted the brewery to a distillery.
The Youngs' were farmers and, from 1767, brewers and distillers. They owned lands at Colinswell, Newbigging and Dunearn; and to the east of Grange farm, where they built the Grange Distillery. They also appear to have leased Grange House from the Aytouns, for use sometimes by themselves and sometimes by distillery employees.
Unlike the Aytouns, their permanent base was Burntisland, and they were more involved in local affairs - for example, William Young was Provost from 1831 to 1834. They were also more generous, gifting the Music Hall (rather unimaginatively renamed the Young Community Hall) to the town in 1869. The plaque in the hall records: "This hall, erected and fitted up by Joseph Young Esq and John Young Esq at their joint expense, was presented as a free gift to the town of Burntisland, 1869." They had a street named after them - Young's Wynd, which later became Lothian Street. Robert Livingstone suggests that this was because they had the street widened, to allow easy passage of cattle from their farm to the ferry.
