Culloden clootie well facelift

As part of a programme of improvement works at its Culloden Woods, Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) has the agreement of a neighbouring landowner to carry out repairs at the Culloden Clootie Well.  

Beginning next week (Monday 23 June), local specialist contractors will dismantle the crumbling well wall and use the stone to build a bench where visitors can sit in peace with their thoughts. 

These works are the next phase in a programmes of works to improve facilities at Culloden Woods, which were initiated last year with extensive path improvements and repairs to deal with potholes at the FLS site entrance. 

Further path repairs are also currently being carried out to improve access from Woodside of Culloden.

FLS Area Visitor Services Manager, Carol MacKintosh, said;  

“Although it’s not an ancient monument, the Culloden Clootie Well has an important place in local folklore.  

“Tree roots have undermined the well wall and left it in a poor state, which is not very welcoming for those people who are drawn to it.  

“As well as keeping the site safe, the new feature will give visitors a quiet place for reflection after they’ve left tied their cloot to one of the surrounding trees.

“We hope that this work will provide visitors with an area for peaceful reflection to honour the spirit of the well.” 

The work will involve cutting one or two of the nearby trees that have cloots attached to branches but the FLS team will leave the branches – and any attached cloots - on site.  

Clootie wells have been places of pilgrimage for hundreds of years, with visitors asking the spirits for some healing intervention, leaving as ‘payment’ a rag offering that would gradually deteriorate as the healing magic did its work. 

Thought to date as far back as medieval times, the well is a natural spring that has been known by many names over the years.  

Often referred to as The Culloden Well, the feature is also called St Mary’s Well, after a small chapel that used to stand nearby. It’s use as a clootie well, where offerings of rags were left as payment for requested cures, was recorded in the mid 19th century. 

One folklore tradition is that visitors should walk around the well three times – at sunrise – before tying their cloot to a tree. 

Visitors are reminded to only leave biodegradable rags of cotton or wool to help prevent the site from becoming so unsightly that it needs to be cleared.  

Notes to Editors

1. Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) manages forests and land owned by Scottish Ministers in a way that supports and enables economically sustainable forestry; conserves and enhances the environment; delivers benefits for people and nature; and supports Scottish Ministers in their stewardship of Scotland's national forests and land.
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3. Media enquiries to Paul Munro, Senior Media Manager, Forestry and Land Scotland Media Office 07785 527590 or paul.munro@forestryandland.gov.scot