When botanists Lewis Dillwyn and Joseph Woods visited Ellen Hutchins at Ballylickey in 1809, they were invited to breakfast with the Hutchins family. Ellen’s letters often mention breakfast: “Mrs Taylor spent a day here lately. She came out to breakfast and did not go home till evening, was in excellent spirits and very pleasant.” Ellen…
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In shop windows in Bantry, West Cork, for a week or so last August, as well as the official Ellen Hutchins Exhibition and Botanical Art Trail, there were also photographs of seaweed specimens (dried plants on paper) of hers from the Herbarium in the Botany Department, Trinity College Dublin and the Natural History Museum, London,…
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As of 1st February 2016, a short memoir of Ellen Hutchins, in the custody of the Representative Church Body Library, Dublin, has been digitized and is now available online as the Library’s online Archive of the Month for February 2016. Click here to see the article about it as Archive of the Month which includes links…
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This website is run by the Ellen Hutchins Festival team to share the story of Ellen Hutchins (1785-1815) of Ballylickey, Ireland’s first female botanist. The Ellen Hutchins Festival in Heritage Week, August 2015 in the Bantry Bay area, was the first ever celebration of her life and work. It marked 200 years since Ellen’s death…
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The Heritage Council has announced its Awards, ‘showcasing the best of National Heritage Week 2015 and recognising the fantastic work of all the event organisers and volunteers that take part’. We are delighted that the Ellen Hutchins Festival has been given the Hidden Heritage Award. The Heritage Council says: ‘This award shines a light on…
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On Thursday 20th August 2015, an exhibition opened in Bantry House of Ellen Hutchins’ watercolour drawings of seaweeds. This was their first showing in the Republic of Ireland and their home coming. They were drawn by Ellen Hutchins, at Ballylickey, about four miles from Bantry House, on Bantry Bay. Ellen was born at Ballylickey in…
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Many letters of Ellen’s have survived and are the most important resource in discovering her story. There are one hundred and twenty letters between her and fellow botanist, Dawson Turner. Those from Dawson Turner to Ellen are held by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and those from Ellen to Turner are at Trinity College Cambridge.…
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