plants, seaweeds, and landscape through her story her through landscape and seaweeds, plants, Bantry to Beara: an exploration of Bantry Bay’s Bay’s Bantry of exploration an Beara: to Bantry FIRST FEMALE BOTANIST (1785-1815) BOTANIST FEMALE FIRST FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF IRELAND’S IRELAND’S OF FOOTSTEPS THE IN FOLLOWING HERITAGE TRAIL HERITAGE Ellen Hutchins Ellen Ellen Hutchins HERITAGE TRAIL Specimen of Fucus esculentus prepared by Ellen Hutchins THERE ARE NINE STOPS ON THIS TRAIL Image courtesy of the Their location and access details are listed below. The grid references given are for use with Herbarium, Botany Department, Ordnance Survey Ireland maps. For Sat Nav coordinates visit www.ellenhutchins.com Ellen Hutchins Trinity College, Dublin Some stops feature historical buildings and walks nearby, others are of botanical interest. HISTORICAL BUILDING WALKS NEARBY BOTANICAL INTEREST HERITAGE TRAIL 1 Garryvurcha Graveyard, Bantry LOCATION: Church Road, Bantry (V9982 4850). ACCESS: Within walking distance of all car parks in Bantry. Open 10am-5pm most days. INTRODUCTION 2 Blue Hill and Beach, Bantry LOCATION: 3.5km west of Bantry (V9694 4814) - take the N71 west out of town Ellen Hutchins, who is widely regarded as Ireland’s first female and after 900m turn right (opposite the West Lodge Hotel). Turn right again after 400m and go to the end of the road. Parking available. botanist, was born in Ballylickey on the shores of Bantry Bay in 1785. This trail will take you to places that were important to Ballylickey House 3 Whiddy Island Ellen and will allow you to experience the beautiful environment birthplace and home LOCATION: The ferry to Whiddy Island goes from the Railway Pier, Bantry of Ellen Hutchins (V9901 4871). www.whiddyferry.com which inspired her to study and record the flowering plants, (photo 1910) seaweeds, mosses, liverworts and lichens around Bantry Bay. 4 Ballylickey Her story is told using her letters and the journal of a Welsh LOCATION: Ballylickey is located 6km north of Bantry on the N71. BOTANICAL ACCESS: botanist who visited her at Ballylickey. This trail provides an Parking is available at Manning’s Emporium (W0064 5293) or the Ouvane Falls. introduction to Ellen’s story but to find out more and to hear the BEGINNINGS letters and journal entries voiced, listen to the Audio Guide and 5 Snave Beach LOCATION: visit www.ellenhutchins.com Ellen became ill at school in Dublin and Dr Whitley Stokes, a Snave is located 8.2km north of Bantry on the N71 (V9961 5434). ACCESS: Parking is available at the side of the road at Snave Bridge. family friend, took her under his care in his Dublin home. When 6 she was called back to Ballylickey to help look after her mother The Ellen Hutchins Heritage Trail provides an opportunity to discover the fascinating Coomhola story of the short but remarkable life of Ireland’s first female botanist, who was born in LOCATION: and a disabled brother, Dr Stokes advised her to take up the Coomhola is located 1.7km north of Snave (V9941 5559) – take the Ballylickey, Bantry Bay, in 1785. right hand turning just after Snave Bridge. study of botany, which would encourage her to spend time ACCESS: Follow in Ellen’s footsteps, and explore the beautiful area of West Cork that inspired Parking is available near Coomhola Bridge at the trailhead for the outdoors and also give her an interesting indoor occupation: her pioneering work on plants. Visit her birthplace and burial site and experience Coorycommane Loop Walk: www.irishtrails.ie/Trail/Coorycommane-Loop/864/ examining, recording and preserving the plants she collected. the unique diversity of places that Bantry Bay offers to the plant hunter, from the 7 shores and islands of the bay to the lush expanse of Glengarriff Woods and the high Priest’s Leap He introduced Ellen to James Mackay, botanist at Trinity College mountains of the Cork and Kerry border. It is intended that you drive between the trail LOCATION: Priest’s Leap is located 6km north of Coomhola (V9851 6116). Dublin, and Mackay sent Ellen’s specimens to many of the stops but at each point there are options to walk and explore the area. Follow the sign posts from Coomhola Bridge. eminent botanists of the day. ACCESS: Parking is available in a small layby at the summit of the road. An audio guide to the trail is available 8 Ellen showed “extraordinary talents and extraordinary industry” via www.ellenhutchins.com Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve LOCATION: in her pursuit of botany and had the advantage of living by Glengarriff Woods is located 1km north of Glengarriff village on the N71 Please wear suitable footwear for walking. Check local forecasts and tides. (V9182 5704). Bantry Bay, an area with a magnificent biodiversity and remote ACCESS: Car parking and picnic areas are available in the woods. See plants up close by borrowing a hand lens from Bantry Tourist Office www.glengarriffnaturereserve.ie enough not to have been explored. Ellen quickly became a (open April to October). valued member of a community of specialist botanists. One in 9 Identification guides for plants & seaweeds can be bought from Bantry Bookshop. Hungry Hill and Healy Pass particular, Dawson Turner, in Yarmouth, England, became Ellen’s LOCATION: Adrigole is 18km south west of Glengarriff on the R572 towards For information on other activities and sites around Bantry, see www.visitbantry.ie B Castletownbere. Turn right in Adrigole for the Healy Pass, travel 7km to the highest l greatest mentor and friend. Although they never met in person, a d d point (V7866 5357) e Visit www.ellenhutchins.com for: r their correspondence led to a deep friendship that developed w ACCESS: Parking is available in a layby overlooking Adrigole Harbour. ra - audio guide to trail ck F over a seven-year period. Dawson Turner named one of his uc - in depth information on Ellen Hutchins us v esiculosus daughters Ellen in her honour, and asked her to become the - links to online plant identification resources child’s Godmother. - details of the annual Ellen Hutchins Festival which takes place in and around Bantry during Heritage Week in August. Watercolour of Fucus asparagoides This trail leaflet, and the accompanying audio guide, were produced in 2017 by the Ellen Hutchins Festival in conjunction with members by Ellen Hutchins, 1811 of the Hutchins family, Bantry Historical Society, National Parks & Wildlife Service and Abarta Heritage. Image courtesy of the Hutchins family Photo credits: Deirdre Fitzgerald, Adrian Cronin, Clare Heardman, Sean Maskey, Madeline Hutchins, Fionn Moore, Robbie Murphy, Jenny Seawright (www.irishlichens.ie), Robert Thompson. Leafletdesigned by Jenny Dempsey. L i c Funded by The Heritage Council and the Fisheries Local Action Group South. h e n s o n Bi rch tree 9 Hungry Hill and Healy Pass 7 Priest’s Leap 6 In Ellen’s day, the most common Coomhola S In the early 1800s, the Priest’s t way to travel down the peninsula 8 a Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve g great ornament to marshy places ’ Leap was the main route s - was by boat as the roads were h in spring”. o between Bantry and Kenmare, The plant is typical r extremely rough. Either way, n of West Cork’s wetlands and is rise the Caha Mountains, with Peninsula eg St Patrick’s c but it was not an easy journey. l getting to Hungry Hill would have u b I their dramatic exposed layers Cabbage, Kidney Saxifrage only found in south west Ireland r m Lewis Dillwyn wrote that Ellen’s i been a major expedition for Ellen. s o h s and the north western part of old red sandstone. and Irish Spurge. As with the brother organised sixteen men S s p Ly At its summit, Ellen would have u mosses, lichens and ferns co to carry his carriage over the of the Iberian Peninsula. Also r p g The woods were part of the od found the ancient cairn which e iu The Priest’s Leap is a steep and present here are two much less blanketing the trees, they m pass. He chose to get out and E Bantry House estate during clavatum u winding road which passes just is still there to this day. At its p conspicuous insectivorous plants, h thrive in West Cork’s mild, walk to hunt for plants. o Ellen’s time. It was a special Butterwort Large-flowered grandiflora Pinguicula eastern side are two lakes, both r below the summit of County ia damp climate. Pale Butterwort and Round- When her health was good, Ellen h place to her and she refers to Ellen recorded several relatively of which drain into the Mare’s Tail ib Cork’s highest mountain, leaved Sundew. er Ellen was fortunate to have the delighted in “going among the na finding unusual bryophytes in One shrub growing in the rare plants growing at the waterfall - the highest waterfall in Knockboy (Cnoc Buí). Lewis lovely Coomhola area nearby. mountains”. We know that she “a very favourite spot by the woods now that was not summit of Knockboy, which can Along the route, in clear weather, both Ireland and the UK. Dillwyn who visited Ellen in Part of the Beara Way, the climbed Sugar Loaf and Hungry Glengarriff Woods is a 300ha rocky, woody side of a little present during Ellen’s lifetime 1809 wrote: “The prospect still be found here today, over there are fantastic 360° views Some of the plants Ellen Coorycommane Loop Walk Hill on the Beara Peninsula and nature reserve with several waterfall particularly dear to is Rhododendron ponticum. from its summit is very grand 200 years later.