[4] In 1704, five local women were accused of taking part in the bewitching of a teenage boy, Patrick Morton, and were incarcerated and tortured in the tolbooth.

One of the accused, Janet Cornfoot, confessed after being beaten by the local Presbyterian Minister, Patrick Cowper,[5] then escaped and was promptly caught and crushed to death by a lynch mob.

[6][7][8] A new weather vane was added in 1739 and a clock, designed and manufactured by a local clockmaker, John Smith, was installed in the fifth stage of the tolbooth in 1773.

[2] After the tolbooth became unsuitable for use as a municipal building, a new town hall was erected in Session Street in 1940,[10] and the tower subsequently became an integral part of the parish church.

[11] In July 2021, the Royal Burgh of Pittenweem and District Community Council, having secured ecclesiastical listed building consent[12] as well as funding by Historic Environment Scotland, initiated a programme of restoration works on the tower.