The well it describes sits within an early ecclesiastical enclosure in north Cork, one of two wells on the site, positioned in the north-east quadrant close to the northern bank of a stream. It is circular and stone-lined, covered by a square flat-topped stone structure with a statue of the Blessed Virgin placed on top, and enclosed by a low wall with an entrance to the south. The name, and the well's particular reputation for curing sore fingers, point to a story about consequence as much as healing.

When Reeves described the well in 1858, he noted it was cased inside with roughly squared blocks of oak, about three feet deep, and believed to have once been lined with lead. A photograph from 1907 shows a low square drystone surround with a lintelled opening, suggesting the structure has been modified over the years. The lead lining, if it ever existed, was long gone by then, and the reason given in local tradition is specific: according to Larkin, writing in the late 1970s, the well had served as a baptistery until it was granted to a Cromwellian soldier, who promptly lost his fingers attempting to strip out the lead. The name of the place, in this reading, is not simply descriptive but a kind of folk memory of that event. Bowman, writing in 1934, recorded the well under its other local name, 'The Blessed Virgin's Well', and noted that rounds, the traditional devotional circuits performed at holy wells, were paid there on the 18th of February and on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the year. Grove White, working in the early twentieth century, recorded a broader range of cures associated with the water, including sore arms and legs, and noted its reputation for mineral properties.