Clootie Well
Clootie Well
3.5
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
3.5
88 reviews
Excellent
31
Very good
18
Average
18
Poor
10
Terrible
11
tomalli68
Falkirk, UK1,013 contributions
Jun 2021 • Couples
Very short walk from the limited space car park. Interesting to see. Some really weird cloots in there. Not sure if I'd call it spiritual or creepy, possibly a bit of both. Doesn't take long to wander through it
Written June 17, 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.
Grant Ramzi
Fraserburgh, UK101 contributions
Apr 2021 • Couples
Only takes a few minutes to get to the well from the car park. Great story behind it and can tell lots of people have been from the things people have left as a offering
Written April 25, 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.
FlyAtNight
Brooklin, Canada3,628 contributions
Sep 2019
Apparently you can bring a piece of cloth or rag, dip it into the well and hang it from the trees, it will have healing powers. What I found was a messy bunch of rags hanging from the trees.
Written September 29, 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.
emily14292
Stoke-on-Trent, UK3 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 July 31, 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
Sep 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 September 12, 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, UK374 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 April 30, 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.
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 February 1, 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.
alibatty🦇
Dundee, UK21,892 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 June 19, 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 August 22, 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
394 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 November 2, 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.
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