The Ordnance Survey mapped it in 1837 as the Scurvy Well, a label that suggests a practical, maritime use by sailors seeking fresh water to treat vitamin deficiency on long voyages. By 1863 the same surveyors were marking it as the Scurvy Well (Site of), implying the physical structure had already diminished or shifted. A second well appears on that later map a short distance to the south, and this is the one most likely to correspond to what locals have long called St. Begnet's Well, a holy well associated with the early Christian saint to whom the ruined church just 68 metres to the east is also dedicated.

Holy wells in Ireland are typically spring or natural water sources that acquired religious significance, often linked to a local saint and visited for healing purposes. The tradition attached to this one is specific: the water was said to cure sore eyes. W. F. Wakeman recorded that belief as early as 1891, and the association was still being noted in 1952, when a description collected by Scantlebury observed that the well was held in considerable veneration by local people and considered effective for eye ailments, much like a number of other holy wells across County Dublin. Folklore gathered from Dalkey schoolchildren and preserved in the Irish Schools' Collection adds a stranger layer. A story circulated among them of a man rowing through the Sound on a dark night who saw a figure on the island, rowed towards it, watched it vanish on his arrival, and then found the well. He had suffered from rheumatism, and the account records that he was cured after putting his hand into the water.

Dalkey Island is accessible by a short boat crossing from Coliemore Harbour in Dalkey village, with local operators running seasonal services. The island is uninhabited and open to visitors, though there are no facilities. The well sits on the north-western shore, close to the tideline, so the state of the tide affects whether the spring is clearly visible; approaching at or near high tide gives the best sense of how marginal its position is between land and sea. The ruined church of St. Begnet nearby provides useful orientation, and the well is a short walk to the west along the shoreline.