The Old Tolbooth

Edinburgh EH1 1RF

The Old Tolbooth was an important municipal building for more than four hundred years. It was the location for imprisonments, interrogations, and trials of many suspected witches. The building, located at the northwest corner of St Giles’ Cathedral, was first built in the 14th century. It served a variety of purposes such as housing the Burgh Council, the Parliament of Scotland and the Court of Session. The Tolbooth was also the burgh’s main jail where, in addition to incarceration, physical punishment and torture was conducted in interrogations of accused witches.

The Old Tolbooth was demolished in 1817. Its ground-plan is indicated on the street today by brass markers among the cobblestones.

Sources:

• Julian Goodare (eds.), Scottish Witches and Witch-Hunters, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
• Wikipedia: Old Tolbooth – Edinburgh