You never know where research will lead!
Evacustes. You know how a name can lodge in your mind?
As part of a NWKFHS writing workshop, I researched Frankwell, Shrewsbury, Shropshire especially the work of artist Evacustes Phipson.
He was a prolific British topographical watercolourist in the 1890s and throughout the opening decades of the twentieth century but I couldn't find any that informed my study of Frankwell.
That unusual forename popped up again when I read a newsletter from the London Metropolitan Archives, which contained a report of a recent publication from Croydon Natural History Society about this artist and features views in the Croydon area. The booklet is available for sale (www.cnhss.co.uk). You can use the usual search engines to see watercolours of many parts of the UK.
That made me revisit Shropshire Archives and look again. Yes, after all, there were several informative views of Frankwell.
Turning back to my Southwark ancestors … and yes Evacustes had recorded there too. And for Woolwich aficionadosthere is a 1920s image Parsons Hill towards Powis Street in Old Woolwich, South-east London on Wiki Commons …
You just never know where research will take you!