Located on the north side of Stonehaven Harbour, the Tolbooth Museum is located in Stonehaven's oldest building, built in the late 16th C. as a store-house for George Keith, the 5th Earl Marischal, who lived nearby at Dunnottar Castle. Around 1600, it was converted for use as Kincardineshire Courthouse and Prison, a role in which it served until 1767. The walled area at its eastern end was the prisoners' exercise yard.
The tolbooth was renovated in 1963, with the ground floor becoming a museum and the upper floor a restaurant. Today, the museum contains artefacts from the fishing industry, displays of local history and visitors can see a cell from the former prison, where the condemned were held before hanging.