The Clootie Well

Found this lovely place down a wee wooded path over by Madron in Cornwall. It's a healing tree and well!

The idea being to tear a piece of cloth from the part of the body which is ill, tie it to a branch on the tree and as the cloth rots on the tree so the hurt disappears with it.

Madron well was also much famed for its healing powers. People would come to both the well and to the chapel seeking cures for ailments like skin diseases, colic, shingles, aches, pains, rickets and other crippling diseases. Mothers would bring their sickly children to the well on the first three wednesdays (or sundays) in May (Beltane again) and plunge them naked into the water three times whilst standing facing the sun.

The children would then be passed around the well nine times from east to west, dressed and left to sleep on a grassy hillock next to the well known as St. Maderne's Bed. The entire ritual had to be performed in absolute silence and, before leaving, a piece of the child's clothing would be tied to a nearby tree as a thanksgiving.

The timing of the rituals around the Pagan festival of Beltane and the importance of the number three indicates a long tradition of veneration and use of the waters here.

http://people.bath.ac.uk/prsrlp/kernunos/england/madron.htm