Twelve Irish saints of the name Sineach (also written as Sinche) were recorded in medieval times. The name probably derives from the Irish ‘sean’ meaning ‘old’. One of these saints was the daughter of Feargna and a late pedigree assigns her to the Eoghanacht of Cashel, in Tipperary. It seems highly likely that it was this Sineach that was invoked in a litany preserved in the Stowe Missal, an illuminated manuscript some of which was written in the 11th century in Lorrha, in North Tipperary. This Sineach founded a church site at Crohane (Cruachán Maighe Abhna), in the barony of Slievardagh, in Co. Tipperary, in the early medieval period.   ​

Ellen Hutchins was born in Ballylickey in the Bantry Bay area of West Cork in 1785. While in school in Dublin, Ellen’s health began to deteriorate and she was placed in the care of a family friend, Dr Whitley Stokes. Stokes encouraged Ellen to spend time outdoors in order to improve her health and suggested that she embark upon the study of natural history and specifically botany.