Sally Lunn's House

House and shop, dating partly to the 15th century, rebuilt in 1622 (by lease) by George Parker, a carpenter, and remodelled around 1800. The building is constructed of limestone rubble laid in thin, even courses, with ashlar dressings, the ground floor painted, and has a pantile roof. It has a narrow, double-depth plan with a gable end facing the street.

The exterior gives the appearance of the late 17th century, the “Sally Lunn period,” and stands four storeys high. It features pairs of late 18th-century double-hung sash windows, with six panes per sash, in dressed surrounds. A continuous dripmould runs above each floor. The ground floor has an entrance doorway to the left and an 1800 shopfront to the right, with a partly glazed door and an elaborately glazed rectangular light above. There is a bowed shop window with six-over-four panes. A third-floor window is set within a coped gable featuring an oculus. An ashlar end stack has pots, with a further rubble stack to the rear. Originally the front faced north towards the Abbey; it has been restored and faced with slates and now has modern windows.

The ground floor interior has been much altered. A large bread oven is located in the basement, underneath the pavement, and another is in the party wall, alongside a grain or flour bin and a flagged stone floor. An open-well staircase is present, with squat Doric newels and slender turned columnar balusters. The third-floor door may have original hinges. A rear wall is timber-framed, and possible remains of an earlier house are visible. Two late medieval moulded fireplace surrounds, with shallow spandrels, were recorded by Mowbray Green.

The earlier building on this site was part of the Duke of Kingston's House in 1482. It was leased on 15 June 1622 from John Hall to George Parker, a carpenter of Bathford, with a covenant to build within five years. Pre-1750 maps indicate a narrow alley dividing it from the house to the east, with a visible western party wall. Sally Lunn, a pastry cook and baker, was a tenant in 1680, and Ralph Allen's first post office was located here in 1725. Around 1750, the ground level of North Parade Passage was raised to meet Galloway’s Buildings, transforming the old ground floor into a basement. A gabled front facing the passage was added, and a later Georgian remodelling changed the facade to face the opposite direction. The building is largely of 17th-century date and graphically illustrates the building techniques used before the Wood period of Bath’s construction. The house was restored in 1930 with a grant.