Ellen Hutchins Archives Cabinet & Lichens Display: Bantry Library

See a new selection of Ellen Hutchins archives in the beautiful oak Archives Cabinet in the reference section of Bantry Library during the Ellen Hutchins Festival in Heritage Week 2026. Beside the cabinet is a small table top display of materials relating to Ellen’s life, botany and botanical art. Read a selection of letter extracts, see photos of drawings and specimens.

In the Cabinet itself, see a book with plant material pressed in it, a letter written by Ellen to her brother about her botany, one of Ellen’s drawings of seaweed, made in 1811 and a different set from last year of three of her seaweed specimens on loan from the Herbarium of Trinity College Dublin. Ellen took great care when laying out and pressing the specimens and the results of this can be seen over two hundred years later in these beautiful examples of seaweeds she collected and pressed from Bantry Bay.

In addition, new this year is a display and short film on Learning to Love lichens, to commemorate leading Irish lichenologist, Paul Whelan, who contributed to many Festivals and was author of the Festival’s publication on Oceanic Lichens, and sadly died last December.

Reference section of Bantry Library. Closed Sunday 16th and Monday 17th. Free.

For information on all Ellen Hutchins Festival events in Heritage Week see: https://ellenhutchins.com/event-listings-2/