The Old Tolbooth is a historic municipal building in Edinburgh’s Old Town, a key landmark that functioned as a courthouse, council chamber, and prison for over 400 years. The pub named after it is illustrated above and sits in the last remaining Tolbooth Canongate.
 
The Canongate Tolbooth stands is a 16th-century landmark on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile in the Old Town. Built in 1591, it similarly served as the administrative heart of the independent burgh of Canongate, functioning as a courthouse, jail, tax office, and council meeting place. 
 
This tolbooth housed prisoners, including Covenanters during the 17th century, under harsh conditions, and was the site of a 1692 riot. Canongate remained separate from Edinburgh until its annexation in 1856, after which the building lost its municipal role. In 1875, city architect Robert Morham restored its exterior, combining interior floors to create space for what is now The People’s Story Museum, focusing on everyday Edinburgh lives.
Designed in Scottish medieval style, it features a bell tower with bartizans, ornamental gunloops, and a clock from 1884 by James Ritchie & Son, hung over the street on wrought iron brackets. The structure exemplifies rare 16th-century burgh architecture, with a conical roof and turrets emphasizing civic pride. It’s Category A listed and part of Edinburgh’s UNESCO World Heritage Site.
 
Interesting facts...
Quite a few macabre things happened here.
In the 16th century, Sir Lewis Bellenden—whose initials “L.B.” appear over Tolbooth Wynd archway—performed a horrific exorcism on a warlock suspected of devil possession. The ritual terrified the man to death, marking a grim footnote tied to the building’s builder.
Accused witches from Edinburgh were jailed and tried here, but outsiders like young Janet Douglas—a 12- or 13-year-old Highland “witch-finder”—were also held. Posing as mute to claim supernatural powers, she accused five Paisley residents of witchcraft in 1677, leading to their executions; she was imprisoned in 1679 for imposture and consorting with spirits.