Tolbooth Museum, Stonehaven

The Tolbooth is the oldest building in Stonehaven, dating from the late 16th Century. Stonehaven Tolbooth was built by George Keith, 4th Earl Marischal (c. 1553 - 1623), in Old Red Sandstone as a storehouse. Gables Crow Stepped. Chimney at west end. It is a category A listed building.

In 1600 an Act of Parliament provided that the building became a Tolbooth and local District Court. After 1624 the town business functions were also conducted from the building.

Today the ground floor contains a museum that showcases the building’s turbulent past and Stonehaven’s rich history. Visitors can examine the model of the Earth’s earliest known air breathing animal found at nearby Cowie, reminisce over past domestic life, view old photographs of the town or study the local geology. You can also study the plans for the extension to the building which includes a larger museum space and a glass encased café.

Artifacts on display include: items of incarceration, prehistory cist, cup stone and an extensive range of local fishing and farming implements.

*Please note – the 1^st floor contains the Tolbooth Restaurant which is not part of the Open Doors Days

1748 - 1749: three Episcopalian Ministers were incarcerated in the Tolbooth for the crime of congregational assembly of more than five people at the (now ruined) chapel situated on the grounds of Muchalls Castle along the ancient Causey Mounthy path.