WORK to extend a Lancaster city centre inn has uncovered a 200-year-old 'time warp'.

The owner of the Sun Inn made the startling discovery when workmen broke into the building next door to the Church Street hostelry.

Pieces of pottery, some possibly dating back to Roman times, were found in the former town house at 65 Church Street.

They will now be given to the city museum for safekeeping.

But there's more to the find than that - for the building itself has remained largely untouched for 220 years.

Sun Inn owner Matt Jackson, who is a former Lancaster University history student, says: "The quality of the workmanship is incredible and this is what makes the site so important. It's beautiful. You can see the original handprints in the glass."

Matt wants to extend the Sun Inn into the house next year but is determined that the building work should retain as much character as possible.

"We are about preserving features not destroying them. We are not going to knock anything down but want to make use of what is a fascinating piece of history in Lancaster city centre," he says.

Dr A J White, former curator of the City Museum, has done an excavation of the cellar and conducted research into the building's history to create a picture of what each room was used for when it was built in or soon after 1785.

It is known that the Carter brothers of Lancaster acquired the ancient courtyard building that once occupied this and adjacent sites from Sir Charles Molyneaux and demolished it. The town houses, including number 65, were built on the site.

Matt hopes that the latest project will be finished some time next year, providing the inn with six extra bedrooms.

But for now he is happy to explore the surprises that the house provides as work cautiously begins on stripping away the paint.

He says: "When I find things I want to look into them. A lot of people don't see these thing because they are not looking for them."