Many retain their ancient atmosphere through mossy stone, votive offerings, and a general sense of having been left largely alone. The holy well at Burgatia, in west Cork, has taken a different path. What greets a visitor today is a concrete-lined rectangular pit, modernised out of whatever earlier form it once held, with water still flowing through it. A surrounding wall and a gate mark it out as a place of some deliberate significance, but the fabric is utilitarian rather than atmospheric.