British Holy Wells and Clootie Trees: History, Offerings and How to Visit
Walk down a lane in Cornwall, the Scottish Highlands or the Welsh borders and you may come across something strange: a tree by a spring, its branches hung with strips of cloth, ribbons and rags, some bright and new, some faded almost to nothing. This is a clootie tree, and the spring beside it is a holy well. Together they are one of the oldest living customs in Britain, a place where people have come for healing, wishes and answers for well over a thousand years.
This guide explains what holy wells are, how the clootie custom works, the offerings people left and why, some of the most famous wells to visit, and how to honour a well respectfully today.
What is a holy well?
A holy well is a spring, pool or well believed to have special power, usually to heal, sometimes to grant wishes or reveal the future. Britain has thousands of them. Many carry a saint's name, but the reverence for living water is far older than the saints. Springs rise from beneath the earth, never run dry and stay clear and cold in summer, so it is no surprise our ancestors saw them as doorways to something beyond the everyday.
When Christianity came, many springs were simply given a saint and carried on as before. The Church tried more than once to stop the visits, but people kept coming, often on the same days of the year their great-grandparents had: May morning, midsummer, and the saint's own feast day.
Wells and the goddesses of Britain
The clearest evidence of how far back the custom goes comes from Roman Britain. At Bath, the hot spring was sacred to Sulis, a British goddess the Romans identified with Minerva. Archaeologists found well over a hundred curse tablets thrown into the water: small sheets of lead on which people asked the goddess to punish whoever had stolen their cloak, gloves or money.
On Hadrian's Wall, at Carrawburgh, a spring sacred to the goddess Coventina was excavated in the nineteenth century. It held more than thirteen thousand coins, along with altars, brooches, pins and other offerings. People were throwing coins into wells and making wishes nearly two thousand years ago, exactly as we still do at a fountain today.
What is a clootie tree?
"Cloot" is an old Scots word for a cloth or rag. At a clootie well, a visitor dips a strip of cloth in the water, uses it to wash or touch the part of the body that needs healing, and ties it to a branch of the tree beside the well. As the rag rots away in the wind and rain, so, the belief goes, the illness fades with it.
Some people say a prayer or a wish as they tie the cloth. Others walk around the well sunwise, following the path of the sun, before they drink or dip. Taking a cloth down was thought to bring the illness onto whoever moved it, which is why the trees fill up over the years.
Offerings at the well
- Pins: bent pins were dropped into many wells. Bending the pin "killed" it, making it useless for ordinary purposes and giving it to the spirit of the well. Some wells were known as pin wells for this reason.
- Coins: the ancestor of every wishing well. The coin is a payment, a gift and a promise.
- Cloth and ribbon: the clootie, carrying the illness away as it decays.
- Water itself: visitors drank, bathed or carried water home in bottles for healing, blessing the house or protecting livestock.
Divination at the well
Wells were also places to ask questions. Young women dropped pins and watched the bubbles to learn whether a sweetheart was true. At some wells a feather, a leaf or a piece of bread was floated on the water: if it sank or swam, the answer was given. Others were watched for the movement of fish or eels that were believed to live in them, their appearance a good omen. These are among the oldest forms of water scrying in these islands.
Famous holy wells and clootie wells to visit
Madron Well, Cornwall
Near Penzance, a short walk through woodland leads to Madron's spring and the ruined baptistery beside it. The trees along the path are hung with cloths, and the well was long visited in May for healing, especially for children.
Munlochy Clootie Well, Black Isle
On the Black Isle north of Inverness, the clootie well at Munlochy is one of the best known in Scotland, its roadside trees crowded with rags. It is a striking example of how strongly the custom has survived into the modern day.
St Winefride's Well, Holywell
In Flintshire, St Winefride's Well has drawn pilgrims for centuries, and the town takes its name from it. The well sits in a beautiful late-medieval well chamber, and people still bathe there today.
Chalice Well, Glastonbury
At the foot of Glastonbury Tor, the iron-rich waters of Chalice Well run red over the stones. It has become one of the best-loved spiritual places in Britain, surrounded by gardens open to visitors.
The dressed wells of Derbyshire
In Derbyshire and the Peak District, wells are honoured each spring and summer with well dressing: huge pictures made of petals, seeds, moss and bark pressed into clay on wooden boards. The custom at Tissington is recorded from the eighteenth century and claimed to be far older, and many villages now keep it.
How to visit a holy well respectfully
- Use natural cloth only. A clootie only works if it rots away. Synthetic ribbons and polyester scraps never decay, harm the trees and wildlife, and have forced some clootie wells to be cleared. Bring a strip of cotton, linen or wool.
- Leave nothing else behind. Coins and plastic offerings can damage the water and the stonework. A tied cloth, a few words and a little water poured back are enough.
- Walk sunwise. If you want to follow the old way, walk around the well clockwise, the way the sun moves, before you approach the water.
- Do not drink untreated water. Many holy wells are no longer safe to drink from. Touch, dip or bless with the water rather than drinking it.
- Respect the place. Many wells are on private land, in churchyards or in protected sites. Follow any notices and leave the well as you found it.
Bringing well magic home
You do not need a holy well on your doorstep to work with sacred water. Many of the old practices can be kept at home: water drawn on a special morning and kept in a bottle for blessing the house, a bowl of fresh water on the altar for scrying, or moon water left out under the full moon. Our guide to the sacred power of ritual waters goes deeper.
For your own practice, our ritual waters, ritual bowls and ritual goblets make a simple water altar, and a grimoire journal is the place to record the wells you visit and what they show you.
Holy well questions
What is the difference between a holy well and a clootie well?
Every clootie well is a holy well, but not every holy well is a clootie well. A clootie well is one where the custom of tying cloths to a nearby tree is kept.
What do you say at a clootie well?
There are no fixed words. Many people simply name what they want healed or wished for as they tie the cloth, or say a short prayer of thanks to the spirit or saint of the well.
Can you take water from a holy well?
Traditionally, yes; people carried well water home for healing and blessing. Today, check that the site allows it, take only a little, and do not drink it unless the water is known to be safe.
Holy wells are part of a much larger story. Explore the cunning folk, home protection, the festival year and the goddesses of the land in our guide to British folk magic, and read about Brigid, goddess of wells and the first spring light, in Imbolc and Brigid.
