Holy wells are a persistent feature of the Irish landscape, places where a natural water source accumulated layers of devotional significance that pre-date Christianity and persisted long after it arrived. This one is quiet enough that it is easy to miss entirely.

The well is contained within a modest oval enclosure built in drystone construction, that is, stones fitted together without mortar, relying entirely on their own weight and arrangement for stability. The enclosure measures roughly 1.9 metres by 1.53 metres, and its southern end opens down to the spring itself by way of a single step. The location within a cemetery is not unusual for sites of this kind; the boundaries between burial ground and sacred water source were often blurred in early Irish religious practice. The well is recorded by Lord Killanin in 1954 and again in the guide he co-wrote with Michael V. Duignan in 1967, suggesting it was still recognisable and considered worth noting at those dates.

The site sits within the cemetery grounds at Ardbear, near Clifden in Connemara. Visitors prepared to look carefully along the south-eastern edge, past the older sections of the graveyard, should find the thicket that marks it. The step down to the water and the low drystone surround are the details to look for once close.