placenamesBantry
Beanntraí
New discoveries in the Hutchins family collection add material evidence to the botanical history of Ballylickey and Bantry Bay.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Beanntraí · Irish · main form · validated name
- Bantry · English · main form
Place & story
Books bearing a botanist’s name
Family researcher Madeline Hutchins reported newly identified books bearing Ellen Hutchins’s name in January 2024. Willdenow’s Principles of Botany, published in 1805, carries the date 1808. Charles Stewart’s Elements of Natural History of 1801 is inscribed 1 January 1810, adding dated objects to the record of Ellen’s scientific work at Ballylickey. [2]
Plants between dictionary pages
In April 2023, dried plant fragments were found inside a French commercial dictionary published in 1762 and belonging to Ellen’s father. Their preservation among family books provides material evidence alongside her surviving letters, drawings and herbarium specimens. [2]
Looking closely in January 1810
Ellen’s letter from Ballylickey to Dawson Turner on 5 January 1810 discusses a better microscope for drawing small plant structures. She also mentions garden mosses and shells gathered from local sand, recording observations at several scales. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Bantry. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- New finds add to the story of Ireland’s first female botanist, Ellen Hutchins,1January2024 · Madeline Hutchins / Irish Heritage News
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.