William Wilson married Janet Cairns in 1836, and was listed as a brewer in 1837. He leased the Brucehaven Brewery in 1845, and by 1851 he was employing five men.
He may have been the unfortunate, if somewhat naïve, Mr Wilson, described as a brewer from Fife, who was robbed in Liverpool in 1868. William had been walking round the town when he fell in with a Robert Roberts. He invited Robert to his lodgings, took out a purse containing £70 in gold in his presence, visited several public houses with him and, with all the dark inevitability of a Greek tragedy, came to in an unoccupied house with his pockets empty.
He married for a second time in 1850, to Janet Wood, and was described as deceased at the time of his daughter Janet Grace's marriage in 1873.
Location: Limekilns
Active: 1837 - 1855
Status: Closed
The Brucehaven Brewery was built by the 7th Earl of Elgin to exploit the barley from his estate.
The brewery was offered to let at various times between 1813 and 1826 when it was described as containing "eight working tuns, with the requisite coolers and coppers, all in capital working order". The malt barns had "two steeps of twenty bolls each, and suitable kilns, all in the best order, with two extensive lofts" and both the brewery and the malt barns enjoyed "an abundant supply of finest quality water" Brucehaven harbour was within a few hundred yards, which meant "vessels of large tonnage can be loaded or delivered at a trifling expense".
By 1865 brewing had ceased though part of the premises were being used by George Ainslie for malting. The brewery was marked as disused on a map of 1896 and was demolished in the 1930s. The area is now occupied by housing.
Books and periodicals
Anon. Eligible going brewery at Brucehaven with large maltbarns attached or separately, and the good-will of an extensive and established business, to be let. Glasgow Herald, 11th Sepetmber, 1926
Gibb, F. The brewers and breweries of Fife. Stirling: Lomax Press, 2012.
