This view, by George Cooke (1781-1834) isn’t too dramatically different from today’s. The Swan Inn, on the left, has existed since at least the 1450s, and several of the buildings on the right are still there. Mentally substitute a bus for the stagecoach, an articulated lorry for the wagon passing the High Cross, and a Transit van for the wagon with the barrel in the foreground, and there you go!