Clootie Well
Clootie Well
3.5
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3.5
88 reviews
Excellent
31
Very good
18
Average
18
Poor
10
Terrible
11
emily14292
Stoke-on-Trent, UK8 contributions
Jul 2024 • Couples
To summarise and save you the bother of going, a 5 minute walk from the 'car park' (space for about 3 cars which is the first warning sign) are some scrawny trees with bits of rags and ropey material hanging in them. It gives Blair Witch jumble sale vibes, at best. At worst it gives post-festival dumping ground. Certainly nothing mystical or magical about either.
In the middle of the path is a small, and I mean small, upturned stone that looks like a sunken bird bath with some coins in. This is the well. If you are distracted by a low hanging sock flapping in your face, there is every chance you will step in the well without realising it's there. Maybe this would bring extra healing, I don't know, as fortunately I saw it just long enough for me to ask "is this it?"
It feels like an experiment to see whether putting a noticeboard & a map up can convince people something is historical and significant and when we returned to the car to see other people reading said map and setting off with their walking poles in search of the enchanting Clootie Well I almost felt bad for letting them set off.
In the middle of the path is a small, and I mean small, upturned stone that looks like a sunken bird bath with some coins in. This is the well. If you are distracted by a low hanging sock flapping in your face, there is every chance you will step in the well without realising it's there. Maybe this would bring extra healing, I don't know, as fortunately I saw it just long enough for me to ask "is this it?"
It feels like an experiment to see whether putting a noticeboard & a map up can convince people something is historical and significant and when we returned to the car to see other people reading said map and setting off with their walking poles in search of the enchanting Clootie Well I almost felt bad for letting them set off.
Written 31 July 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Mara M
77 contributions
Sept 2020 • Couples
This lovely place has been destroyed by ignorant people. Instead of being a calming site it is littered with grubby clothes- underpants, socks, t-shirts and, now, disposable face masks. This place has been utterly destroyed. There is no peaceful/spiritual vibe. It’s basically a trash heap. Absolutely not worth visiting. The Council should clean it up as it’s just a horror show.
Written 12 September 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Supertramp15
London, UK126 contributions
Feb 2020 • Couples
Just didn’t see what all the fuss is about! To me it looked like one of those immigrant camps in Calais. Nothing hanging in the trees looked bio degradable just looked minging or a poor reproduction of a student pad. Waste of time in my opinion.
Written 1 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Brian B
Forfar, UK377 contributions
Apr 2022 • Couples
We visited the Clootie Well out of curiosity. Wish we hadn't wasted our time, not my cup of tea. A lot of old peices of fabric, in particular, socks. I guess if you believe in the myth it's worth a visit and I wonder how many who have tied something to a tree really do.
Written 30 April 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
alibatty🦇
Dundee, UK19,784 contributions
May 2021 • Friends
Apparently “clootie (cloth) wells” are an ancient pagan Celtic tradition, whereby pilgrims would tie a piece of cloth in an area around a well, and pray to the local spirit/God for healing from whatever symptoms ailed them. As the cloth gradually rotted away, it was hoped that the illness would depart from the sick person.
This well is said to date back to at least the time of St. Boniface /St. Curitan who was a missionary in Scotland in AD 620, if not before then.
However, people with nothing better to do ( probably during lockdown ) have adorned the poor trees with all manner of rubbish - a lot of it synthetic and non-biodegradable. There are masks, belts, shoes, toys, hats, wraps, towels, underwear & florescent clothing - to mention a few of the unsuitable - when traditionally it should just be a strip of organic material. It presently looks like the contents of a charity shop ( or two) are strung around the trees and strangling them. Just another sad example of people taking an ancient custom and distorting it to suit their agenda.
It’s a pity as it’s a natural attraction that’s been turned into an unnatural one.
This well is said to date back to at least the time of St. Boniface /St. Curitan who was a missionary in Scotland in AD 620, if not before then.
However, people with nothing better to do ( probably during lockdown ) have adorned the poor trees with all manner of rubbish - a lot of it synthetic and non-biodegradable. There are masks, belts, shoes, toys, hats, wraps, towels, underwear & florescent clothing - to mention a few of the unsuitable - when traditionally it should just be a strip of organic material. It presently looks like the contents of a charity shop ( or two) are strung around the trees and strangling them. Just another sad example of people taking an ancient custom and distorting it to suit their agenda.
It’s a pity as it’s a natural attraction that’s been turned into an unnatural one.
Written 19 June 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Fiona F
Aberdeen, UK23 contributions
Aug 2014 • Family
We visited while in the area on holiday. We thought it would be a bit of frivolous fun and quite magical. On the contrary, it is awful. Thousands of, now rotting, pieces of cloth & discarded clothing now swaps the otherwise beautiful trees. It looks like a rubbish tip after a hurricane has swept through. There was a distinctly unpleasant, sinister atmosphere & we left quickly. Thank goodness we'd enjoyed a walk around the rest of the wood before visiting this atrocity.
Written 22 August 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Momzillasd
379 contributions
Nov 2019
One is to dip a ~small~ bit of a natural-fibre cloth in the spring and then hang it from a tree. As the cloth disintegrates in the weather, it takes your illness with is. Unfortunately, people have been leaving whole garments, synthetics, plastics, and heaven knows what else there. The local community has done a clean-up to remove things that obviously don't belong. But seriously, if you need to leave an offering, it's a SMALL bit of cloth. And it should be one that will eventually degrade. It's a very old place, sacred to some. Not a dump. If you're going as a tourist, I don't know that it's something you'd necessarily enjoy. It is, basically, a small spring that has an awful lot of bits of cloth in the trees nearby, and the earth packed down around it from thousands of feet over the years.
Written 2 November 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
claire m
North York Moors National Park, UK3 contributions
Aug 2014 • Couples
We are quite open to spiritual/magical places so we were quite looking forward to seeing this. However we never made it to the well because the rubbish hanging from every tree and branch on the way up put us right off! Scraps of poly bags, socks, tights, underpants - did some visitor think 'oh I haven't got anything to hang' and whip off his underpants? There were teddy bears, old trainers and even a high vis waistcoat! Natural fibre cloths they weren't. It was an eye sore and resembled a windy day at a landfill site! In fact it looked like a health hazard rather than a place of healing. I pity the people who live close by this rubbish dump! I would be embarrassed to be advertising this place as a tourist attraction.
Written 22 August 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
CreepinGoth2k9
Inverness, UK10 contributions
Oct 2020 • Family
I finally managed to get to go earlier today and I'm honestly flabbergasted at the amount of NON-biodegradable rubbish others have used as their "cloot" and tied all around the well for example, plastic bags and those disposable face masks. Someone's even hooked a Halloween doll into one of the trees, its just so disgusting and the lack of respect to what this well means to not only the amount of history this little well holds but to those of us who are interested / practise Celtic Paganism. I would've assumed that all who go to visit here are aware of the tradition / belief regarding leaving your own cloot to restore health would understand that the cloot you decide to leave needs to be of biodegradable fabric for it to disintegrate or there's no point at all in leaving anything behind.
Written 25 October 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Lowri E
27 contributions
Sept 2020 • Couples
Visited as a young girl and thought it to be a magical place. Came again in August 2020 and was horrified to see what it had become: dirty underwear, bits of rubbish and surgical masks left hanging between memorials and true clooties. I was bitterly disappointed that as usual ignorant tourists think it’s funny to leave whatever they like in what is a sacred place for many. If you do visit, take a small biodegradable rag and join in, or visit quietly and observe others. Don’t ruin it for those who believe and for whom it is a sacred place
Written 4 September 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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