She Gathered Seaweeds on the Seashore

The two films and other new materials here on the early 1800s page of this website are the culmination of a strand of work by Team Ellen over the past two years or more. The Team set out to understand practical details of the period in which Ellen was botanizing and letter writing.  What clothes would she have worn and what footwear? What equipment would she have used for collecting seaweed? Who else would have been collecting seaweeds on the beach, for food and fertiliser, rather than for botanical specimens? What about the baskets that we know they used?

In Ellen’s letters there are hardly any mentions of clothing, but the weather and baskets do get a mention. We worked with Carrie O’Flynn, historical reenactor and costume maker on the clothing and the footwear. Aquatic biologist, Frances Gallagher, is knowledgeable about the historical uses of seaweeds in Ireland for food and fertiliser, and she researched how to make seaweed specimens.  We also focused on the traditional craft of willow basket making, using local basket makers, Yvon O’Flynn for those for Ellen and Martin O’Flynn for the big seaweed collecting baskets called Creels.

We were adding an understanding of everyday matters and also adding pictures to the words. We chose film as a powerful vehicle to add visuals and supplemented the short films with website materials to give more layers of information.

Not only do these details add to Ellen’s story, they are also aspects of the coastal cultural heritage of Bantry Bay, West Cork. As such they were of interest to FLAG – Fisheries Local Action Group — South as the project linked with their object of developing marine and coastal heritage. The Ellen Hutchins Festival is grateful to FLAG South for the funding for the films and the research and making of Carrie/ Ellen’s costume, boots and baskets.

The Festival is also grateful for receipt of a County Cork Heritage Grant, enabling the creels to be made and an in-person outdoor event, titled She Gathered Seaweeds on the Seashore, to be held in August 2021 in the Ellen Hutchins Festival, with historical re-enactor Carrie O’Flynn and aquatic biologist Frances Gallagher both in costume, with baskets, on the shore of Bantry Bay, collecting seaweeds and explaining what they were doing and why. Those attending were able to collect their own pieces of seaweed and were shown how to make seaweed specimens. This provided useful additional material to film.

Anne Cassin of RTÉ Nationwide was introduced to the Ellen Hutchins Festival at the Heritage Council Awards in 2020, which she was presenting (on Zoom) and at which we won the Water Award for materials on seaweeds (which were also funded by FLAG South). Anne Cassin was interested enough to make two trips to Bantry in 2021 to film pieces about Glengarriff and Ellen Hutchins, including filming the event She Gathered Seaweeds on the Seashore in August. It poured with rain that morning but we managed both the event and the filming, with the brave individuals who came on the day.

Anne Cassin was again presenting the Heritage Awards this year and at the ceremony spoke enthusiastically about her attendance at Ellen Hutchins Festival events in August (and she mentioned the rain!). She also said that the piece on Ellen will probably be aired in the New Year.