By the 18th century Guildford was little bigger than it had been in the Medieval period.  It still consisted mainly of the High Street, with gates or passages leading to North Street and Castle Street. 

There was also settlement along Quarry Street and outside the borough boundary in the Upper High Street and along Chertsey Street.  There were roads north of North Street.  The present roads of Haydon Place and Leapale Lane were both called Frog Lane.  The Bars was called Cherry Lane.  There were few buildings along these lanes and the plots between them were mostly divided up into gardens.  

The Red Lion garden, for instance, produced asparagus, which was enjoyed by Samuel Pepys when he stayed in Guildford.  Much of the land behind the High Street houses was also gardens.

This can all be seen on a map called the Ichnography, which was published in 1739.  A comparable map from 1613 shows Guildford as only slightly smaller.  The population of Guildford was 2,574 in 1739 and by 1801 it was only 2,634.  It grew slowly until the coming of the railway in the mid-19th century.

One indication of the small size of the town is the fact that in the 18th century schoolboys rang a hand bell in the street on Sunday to announce where the church service would be held.  St Mary’s and Holy Trinity had been united in 1699 and services were held in them alternately.  Holy Trinity tower fell down and destroyed the church in 1740.  Rebuilding did not begin until 1751 and the new church was completed in 1762.  The Earl of Onslow funded much of the work and the Onslow crest can be seen above the clock face.  The motto ‘Festina Lente’, which means ‘On Slow’ is singularly appropriate.

Many of the houses in Georgian Guildford were 16th or 17th century timber-framed buildings with perhaps a few mediaeval ones here and there.  By the 18th century tastes had changed and people wanted bigger, symmetrical brick-built houses with larger, evenly spaced windows.  If they could not afford to rebuild they often added a fashionable brick façade.  Examples can be seen in Quarry Street and at Westbury House and coaching inns such as the White Lion and the Angel, while the White Hart was largely rebuilt in 1803.

Wealthy householders could afford to rebuild completely.  An early example is Guildford House built in 1660 by John Childe, a prominent local citizen, who later became mayor.  There are two fine plaster ceilings in the house.  The carved staircase and some panelling are contemporary with the house, but most of the panelling is early 18th century.  At the back of the house are some mathematical tiles.  These are tiles that were made to look like bricks and were probably added in the later 18th century.  

Somerset House was built around 1700 for the Duke of Somerset.  He was said to be a very arrogant man and the story is told that the furious Duke shouted at a farmer who peered over the Duke’s garden wall.  The farmer disappeared, only to climb back up with his newly bought piglet so they could both look over the wall.

Allen House was built almost opposite Somerset House at a similar date.  It was demolished to widen the Upper High Street, though a garden pavilion remains.  The 1739 map shows that it had a large garden with a maze.

A mid-18th century engraving of the High Street (see illustration above) shows several familiar buildings such as the Guildhall.  There are also differences such as the large number of hanging inn and shop signs sticking out from the buildings. Another difference is the drains sticking out from the eaves directing rainwater out into the street.  

The High Street looks uneven although there are pavements.  The picture shows a drainage channel running down the middle of the street.  An 18th century improvement was piped water.  In 1701 William Yarnold installed pumps at the Town Mills that raised water through elm pipes to a reservoir at the foot of Pewley Hill.  From there it was fed to houses by gravity.

In 1759 an Act was passed for lighting Guildford’s streets and setting up a watch who started off their rounds at night from the Guildhall.  They called out the hour and the weather.  They also watched for fires, which must have been a big risk, especially as Guildfordians often expressed joy or anger with fireworks and bonfires.  

In 1756 an effigy of the unpopular Admiral Byng was burnt when he passed through Guildford, and in 1774 effigies of two unpopular tradesmen were burnt.  There were many orders forbidding fireworks but on special occasions such as the 1798 celebrations of Nelson’s victory at the Battle of the Nile there were official ‘illuminations’.

Throughout the 18th century much of Guildford’s wealth came from the coaching trade and there were half a dozen large inns on the High Street.  In 1749 the London to Portsmouth road was turnpiked from Kingston to Sheetbridge, and four gates were set up at which a toll had to be paid.  

In 1758 the road to Farnham was turnpiked.  In 1754 the Town Bridge was opened to coaches and chaises, which previously had to use the ford alongside the bridge much to the annoyance of travellers.  In 1760 the bridge was widened and the arches enlarged so that barges could go underneath to the Godalming Navigation.  The ford was dredged out.

John Russell RA (1745-1806) was perhaps the most famous 18th century Guildfordian.  He was an artist whose pastel portraits gained international repute.  His father, also John Russell (1711-1804), married Ann Parvish and joined her father Samuel’s business as a bookseller and stationer ‘at the sign of the Bible’ (which can be seen above the two ladies in the centre of the illustration).

The Russell's ran the business for over a century, expanding the printing side of it and becoming the Corporation’s printers.  John, the artist, spent most of his life in London, but drew and published two ‘prospects’ of Guildford.

A more notorious figure was Dr James Price FRS, an amateur scientist who startled the country by claiming to have changed mercury into gold in his laboratory in the upper High Street.  When challenged by leading chemical experts to reproduce the experiment in front of them, Price took prussic acid and died at their feet.