Excavations in the cellar's of this timber framed building, firstly in the 1930s and more recently in 1985 have produced many finds dating back through Bath's history to Roman times.

The excavations on display in the north cellar reveal, at the deepest level, the Roman occupation. Here many box flue and other tiles have been found from a hypocaust (underfloor central heating system) together with tesserae from floor mosaics, painted plaster from the walls, roof tiles and pieces of high quality Samian pottery.

A particularly exciting discovery was the painted rim of a mortarium (mortar) designed for teasing the flavour from aromatic plants

Without doubt there was a Roman building on this site in which food was prepared and eaten. Located so conveniently close to the Roman baths it could have been a Roman inn for travelers.

This would take our tradition of hospitality and refreshment back nearly 1800 years, to the period when the hot springs and the temple of the goddess Sulis Minerva attracted visitors from all over north-west Europe.

In 1091, William II granted the city and Saxon abbey of Bath to his former chaplain and doctor, John de Villula, Bishop of Wells.

The see was transferred to Bath and work began on a massive cathedral priory, complete with bishop's palace. Sadly, in 1137 his glorious buildings were devastated by a fire that ran through the whole city.

The abbey complex was rebuilt at great expense by Bishop Robert of Lewis (1137 - 66), including the church, chapter house, cloister, dormitory, refectory and infirmary. The southern range of the buildings, now under Sally Lunn's House, would have contained the refectory and kitchen of the Benedictine monastery.

In the north cellar of Sally Lunn's House; visitor's can see the foundations, floor and stone walling of part of this medieval complex.

The low stone wall stands on a rubble foundation and served to raise the large lower timbers of the walls off the ground. The building was occupied for centuries. Seven separate floor levels have been discovered, each containing bone pottery debris.

A prize exhibit is part of a fine green glazed face Jug made at Laverstock, near Salisbury. The lowest floor level can be dated to around 1150 and rests on rubble containing rich pink burnt stone from the fire of 1137.

The Faggot oven was constructed outside the kitchen on the earliest medieval floor level with its mouth just projecting into the building.

The bread oven is of a design which originated in Rome around 100 B.C. and was still the normal type of construction until the early 17th century.

Faggot ovens were large low stone or brick chambers into which tightly tied bundles of thin branches - faggots - were pushed, one each side and one or two at the back, and then set alight.

The oven door or stop made of clay, iron or timber was set at an angle into the oven mouth, the top leaning outwards, the bottom inwards. This allowed air to be drawn in at the floor for the wood to burn, and the smoke to escape at the top.

Once the faggots had burned to ash, the hot embers were raked out, the oven floor or sole was swept clean with a scuffle (a wet sack cloth swinging on the end of a pole) and the heat stored in the stone would be sufficient for baking bread. Bread was a staple and vital part of everyone's diet.

The abbey dominated the city during the medieval period. When King John visited Bath in 1207 the clergy and religious were said to be one - third of the population and the church grounds to cover one - quarter of the city.

We can speculate that King John ate bread baked in our Faggot Oven.

Traditionally a date of 1482 had been ascribed to this house, which probably refers to a rebuilding of the fireplaces and chimneys of the parlour adjacent to the refectory during the monastic period.

Bishop Beckynton (1443 -65) is known to have built a new dormitory for the monks and it is possible that other rebuilding, of which we have no documentation, was carried out a little later, becoming the source of this well established tradition.

Henry VIII, in 1539, dissolved the monasteries and dispersed their lands. The Bath Abbey precinct came into the hands of the Colthurst family, but in 1612. Henry Colthurst sold this quarter of the city to wealthy John Hall of Bradford on Avon. George Parker, a carpenter, was granted a building lease by John Hall in 1622. He built the present timber framed house on the substantial remains of the south side of the former abbey.

The timber for it was most probably sawn in sawclose, then a timber yard in the northeast corner of the walled city, where he rented a plot from the city council. George Parker was clearly a fine craftsman, whose work has stood the test of time.

The faggot oven and old downhearth were incorporated in the ground floor of the building.

Food would nave been cooked here in the open hearth with a wood burning fire.

Other rooms in the house have decorative fireplaces in the Tudor style still popular in the 1600s.

Sally Lunn's House is a unique reminder of pre-Georgian Bath. It is powerfully evocative of the atmosphere of the ancient walled city, illustrated by Gilmore's fine map of 1694 showing Bath's narrow alleys and gabled roofs.

Sally Lunn's is set in the narrow street long known as Lilliput Alley, before becoming North Parade Passage.

It was the city Beau Nash would have seen on his arrival in 1705.

This was the start of the century that saw the old Bath swept away and replaced by the splendour of Georgian squares, terraces and crescents in the Palladian style favoured by John Wood