Munlochy Clootie Well cleanup
26 October 2019
October 2019
Successful Clean-up Day at Munlochy Clootie Well
Good weather contributed to a very successful day for the Clean-up of the area of the Clootie Well at Munlochy on Saturday 26 October. Over the years cloots have been tied to trees far from the well itself and the prevalence of modern oil-derived fabrics has led to the area becoming progressively less appealing as a site to visit. The concept of the spirits curing people’s ailments as the cloots disintegrated has become forgotten.
Forestry and Land Scotland organised the clean-up day to restrict the area of Littleburn Wood festooned by cloots. A tape was set around the central area of the well and thirty-plus volunteers spent four hours collecting over 50 large sacks of material from the region outside the tape. Collected were shoe laces, shoes, boots, underwear, tights, pinafores, scarves, dish cloths, J-cloths, polythene bags, gloves, socks, tape, ribbons, T-shirts, jeans, handkerchiefs, hessian, sweaters, gloves, polythene sheeting… and more. The objectives of the day were met. All the sacks brought were filled. Just a few cloots high in the trees could not be reached as no ladders were available. Importantly, a decision is needed on what the fate should be of the non-biodegradeable materials at the heart of the well.
At the day’s end a spiritualist was at hand to reinvigorate those who might have felt they were anatagonising the gods of the well, and most agreed that the transformation of the area around the well had been remarkable and achieved quickly. Thank you Marie and the Forestry and Land Scotland team that organised the event with food and drinks and all the necessary tools, and thanks to the volunteers who came from the Black Isle, Easter Ross and as far away as Edinburgh.
Now, please visit the Clootie Well, bring some scissors and a refuse bag and hunt out plastic cloots and clothing for removal, so that only natural fibres are left to degrade in the way the spirits of the well require!
Julian Paren
October 2019.
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