A Witch and The Spirit of Padstow - a photo on Flickriver

            Mother Ivey’s Bay takes its name from the legend of Mother Ivy who was a local white witch who cursed a local family. It lies just around the coast from Harlyn Bay. Cushioned from the wind by the Merope Rocks.

Mother Ivey was a white witch and vocal member of the community, She used her charms and spells to fight harm and wrongs. She was very seldom angry, but one man who lived in Harlyn tried Mother Ivey’s kindness to its limit.
 
In those days wealth came in the form of pilchards. They were caught and salted and sent to Italy for Catholics to eat on fish Fridays and in Lent. While the the fish merchant grew rich, the Cornish fishermen’s families went hungry.
 
One week, a ship carrying a large cargo of pilchards was returned from Italy unsold. Every villager came to see the ship in, hoping that their bellies would soon be filled. The Fish Merchant took the fish off the ship and up the hill to his farm. Mother Ivey pleaded with him to allow the villagers to eat the fish as it was still good enough to eat even though it could not be sold.
 
Instead, the fish were ploughed into a field as fertilizer. Mother Ivey was very angry, The people she spent her years helping were in desperate need of the food that had just been denied them. She went to the Fish Cellars and cursed the merchant's field:
 
"Break the soil, Death will follow,”
 
And it did. The next year, the merchant ploughed the field and planted corn. A few weeks later his eldest son was out riding his horse, when he fell off and was killed. No one has taken a spade or a plough to the field since, for fear of what may happen. The field lays fallow to this day.
 
Adapted from a re-telling by Anna Chorlton and Sue Field

The Padstow Lifeboat station moved to its current location at Mother Ivey’s Bay, near Trevose Head in 1967 following problems with silting in the estuary which prevented the Lifeboat from launching at all states of the tide. The new location provided some protection from the strong Atlantic swells. The station provides an essential response along over 50 miles of rugged and inhospitable coastline and over 100 miles offshore towards the coast of Ireland.

With the introduction of the new Tamar Class lifeboat it was deemed too costly to adapt the old station and slipway to house the new Lifeboat and its associated facilities. Plans were put in place for the construction of a new station adjacent to the original one allowing the station and Lifeboat to remain operational throughout the construction phase. The new Padstow Lifeboat Station was completed and opened in 2006, ready for the new lifeboat.

The "Spirit of Padstow" lifeboat was named in memory of the eight crew members lost when the previous steam lifeboat capsized while on service in 1900. The name was intended to honor their bravery and sacrifice. The new lifeboat, named "Spirit of Padstow", was received by the town in the summer of 2006. 

Adapted from RNLI website and Wikipedia

Taken in: UK / England / St. Merryn (show map)

Taken on: May 19, 2022

Tags:

Mother Ivey's Bay

Trevose Head

Legend

Mother Ivey

Padstow Life Boat Station

Spirit of Padstow

Merope Rocks

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Sets appears in: • North Cornwall

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Camera: Nikon D7000, f/13.0, 1/400 sec, 22mm (=33mm), ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D7000
Lens:	18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Aperture:	f/13.0
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/400)
Focal Length:	22mm (35mm equivalent: 33mm)
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	-8/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Light Source:	Cloudy
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 23.4 (Windows)
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