[2] Lancelot Errington, a master mariner noted for his capture of Lindisfarne during the Jacobite rising of 1715, was arrested and held at the tolbooth along with his nephew in October 1715, but they managed to tunnel out of the building, escape and were subsequently pardoned.

[1] It was designed by Samuel and John Worrell in the neoclassical style and, after the eastern end had been completed, it opened as Berwick Town Hall in 1760.

[1] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage facing west along Marygate; it featured a tetrastyle portico, approached by a flight of steps, with Tuscan order columns supporting a frieze with the inscription "Finished MDCCLIV William Temple Esq, Mayor" and a pediment above containing the borough coat of arms;[1] Pevsner described the monumental portico as "Vanbrughian".

[6] Internally, the principal room was the assembly hall on the first floor: it featured a Venetian window at the east end[1] and was used, among other things, for the Court of quarter sessions.

[1][7] The basement storey was largely taken up by shops, and in the open space under the east end of the hall a weekly egg and butter market was held.