Most holy wells in Ireland are marked by some enclosing feature, a stone surround, a coping, a railing, or at least the accumulated evidence of devotional use. This one has none of those things, and its position inside the old fish-pond makes it an awkward fit for the category.

The fish-pond itself is no longer a working feature of the landscape, but it appears clearly on the first-edition Ordnance Survey six-inch map, placing it firmly in the historical record. Fish-ponds of this kind were typically monastic or manorial in origin, engineered enclosures used to maintain a reliable supply of freshwater fish, particularly during fasting periods. The spring at the centre would have made such a pond self-sustaining. What gives the site its ambiguity is the presence of Inch Church roughly 350 metres to the south-west. In Ireland, holy wells frequently occur in close association with early church sites, and proximity to a place of worship is one of the informal criteria by which a spring might acquire, or retain, a sacred character. Here, that proximity is suggestive but not conclusive. The well may have served the fish-pond and nothing more; or it may have carried some devotional significance that left no physical trace.