The Legend of Mother Ivey’s Curse centers on a wise woman said to have lived near the cliffs between Harlyn Bay and Mother Ivey’s Bay in north Cornwall; when the wealthy Hellyar family — 19th‑century pilchard merchants who lived in the house now the Pig Hotel — refused charity to a starving local family and ploughed surplus fish into a field, Mother Ivey supposedly cursed their land, after which a linked fishing boat was lost and the merchant son allegedly died in a riding accident. Over time the pilchard cellars were abandoned and the family’s fortunes waned; the bay today is noted for its scenic, windswept cliffs and the enduring local tale that the coast remains touched by Mother Ivey’s curse.