[2] The first municipal building in the town was a medieval tolbooth with a large bell tower: it was demolished on the orders of the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, to provide improved access to Linlithgow Palace, in 1650.

[3] Following the Stuart Restoration, burgh leaders decided to commission a new town house: the new building was designed by John Smith in the neoclassical style, built by Robert Mylne in ashlar stone and was completed in late 1670.

[3] The town house was fenestrated on the first and second floors by sash windows which were surmounted by pediments containing crowns, fleurs-de-lys, thistles and roses.

[5] A six-stage tower, which, as well as being balustraded, was originally surmounted by a belfry and weather vane, was erected to the immediate north of the town house in 1678.

[2] The wrought iron loggia was replaced by stone double staircase which was designed by William Malcolm Scott and completed in 1907.