Saturday, July 1, 2017

Sally Lunn's Historic Eating House and Museum

One of the oldest buildings in Bath, Sally Lunn's House stands on the foundations of a Roman building dating back over 1800 years.  The human use of the hot springs at Bath were believed to have started 10000 years ago but the Celts, Romans and Christians venerated the springs as a sacred place.  The Celts erected a shrine structure around 700 BC, dedicated to the goddess of water, Sulis.  Soon after the arrival of the Romans in England in around 43 AD the Celtic Goddess was taken over by the Roman Goddess Minerva, a healing deity.  From around 65AD the Romans built more and more elaborate structures and temples at the springs.  

Sally Lunn's House is built on two structures.  The first structure was a Roman building.  The cellar level of Sally Lunn's has evidence of Roman inhabitants.  The remains of a Roman hypocaust, an ancient type of central heating that was used to heat buildings and Roman baths,have been discovered.  Painted plaster, Samian pottery, pottery from the Roman Period and mosaic tiles have also been excavated.  The remains of a mortarium, or mortar, used to tease flavour from various plants, also hints at the possibility the site was used for the preparation of food.  

In 1091 the Norman King William II, granted chaplain and doctor, John de Villula, the Bishop of Wells,  the city of Bath and the existing Saxon Abbey, built around 757AD.   Work began on a massive Norman cathedral, complete with a Bishop's Palace.  Work was interrupted by a fire in 1137 but the cathedral was finally consecrated between 1148AD and 1161AD.    The cathedral became home to Benedictine Monks. By the 1500s the Norman Church was seriously run down resulting in Bishop Oliver King instigating repairs.  In 1539 Henry VIII dissolved the Monastery and dispersed its land and structures.  

Bath Abbey became the property of the Colthurst family.   Henry Colthurst sold it in 1612 to John Hall of Bradford-on-Avon.  A lease was then granted to carpenter George Parker in 1622.  Parker built the present timber framed house on the remains of the south side of the Abbey.  In the north cellar of Sally Lunn's House the foundation wall of the monasteries refectory and kitchen are still evident.  The remains of a large faggot oven are also visible.  The faggot oven is a design that dates back to Roman times and was popular until the seventeenth century.  A bundle of tied together twigs, a faggot, were burnt in the oven, the ashes were then removed and the oven was cleaned with a scuffle, a stick with a cloth on the end.  The stones retained the heat and could be used to bake bread.  

Sally Lunn's House has changed little since the seventeenth century and is a great example of Pre- Georgian, Bath, which was dominated by gabled roofs and narrow streets. Charles II was restored as King in 1660 after Cromwell and the somber mood of the country was replaced by more joy and lightheartedness.  Bath became a popular resort amongst the wealthy and fashionable.  

In 1680 a young French Huguenot refugee called Solange Luyon arrived in Bath.  She was able to find employment with a baker who operated in Lilliput Lane, near the Abbey.  Solange originally had the job of selling the baker's wares from a basket in the lanes around Bath Abbey. Unfamiliar with the pronunciation of the name Solange, she became known locally as Sally Lunn.  It was soon discovered that Sally had a talent for baking and she began to make a rich brioche bun, most likely inspired by French festival bread she would have sampled in her youth in France. Sally Lunn's bun was made to be coupled with both sweet or savoury accompaniments.  The bun quickly became a popular Georgian delicacy. The buns became a treat at the fashionable breakfasts held at the spring gardens in Bath.
 
During the 1700s Sally Lunn's House was renovated with the street level being raised and a cellar made out of the original ground floor.  A grand reception hall with Hanoverian Arch was created on the ground floor.  The fireplaces and ovens were modernised to burn coal.  In 1798, with the closure of the Spring Gardens, the rights to Sally Lunn's recipes where sold to baker William Dalmer.  Using a custom built portable oven, Dalmer sent Sally Lunn's buns out each morning.  In 1743 the Duke of Kingston, who had acquired the land and house  from John Hall sold Sally Lunn's House to William Robinson.  The house was sold several times and from 1781 to 1786.  James Wicksteed operated a seal engraving business from the premises.  The building became a bakery again around the turn of the century.  It went through the hands of several families before being taken over by Edward Culverhouse who baked there from 1903 until he emigrated to Australia in 1919.  The next owners, the Griffiths family, turned the building into a general store but it became rundown.  

In 1937 Marie Byng-Johnson acquired the building and carried out extensive restorations during which a cache of Sally Lunn's recipes were discovered. Sally Lunn's House was restored to its former glory once again becoming the home of the famed Sally Lunn buns.  

It is believed that Sally Lunn's House is haunted by a Benedictine monk that is heard chanting at night.  During the time that the Benedictine Monks inhabited the large Norman Cathedral, the Black Plague swept through the monastery claiming the lives over over half the monks.  

Bath is a beautiful historic city and what I remember most was the beautiful rose coloured stone that many of the buildings are constructed of.  Sally Lunn's Historic Eating House and Museum is a lovely place for afternoon tea and to sample one of the famed buns.   


















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