Signposted as Tobar Cholmcille, suggesting a holy well, it is known locally as Altóir Cholm Cille, meaning the altar of Colm Cille. What it actually contains is neither well nor altar in the conventional sense, but a crude limestone cross carved with the letters IHS and the name of the saint, all of it enclosed within a drystone structure measuring just 1.4 metres by 1.2 metres. Drystone construction, built without mortar by fitting stones together through careful selection and placement, is characteristic of the Aran Islands more broadly, but here the technique is applied to something intimate and devotional rather than agricultural.

The dedication to Colm Cille, the sixth-century monastic founder associated with Iona and Derry, is not unusual in an Irish context, but the layering of names at this site, part holy well, part altar, part enclosure, suggests a place that has accumulated meaning over a long period rather than one with a single fixed identity. The site was first referenced by Tim Robinson in 1980, whose meticulous mapping of the Aran Islands brought many such quietly significant features into wider notice. During fieldwork carried out as part of the AranLIFE Farming Project between 2014 and 2018, the site was recorded again, and it was noted that the surroundings had been reinforced with rock armour, a practical coastal defence measure using large stone blocks to resist wave erosion, with steps now leading up to the enclosure.

The rock armour is a reminder that this is a shoreline site subject to Atlantic weather, and the recent interventions suggest a community or authority that considers the place worth preserving. The cross itself is described as crude, which in archaeological usage simply means unworked or minimally shaped rather than implying poor craftsmanship. Given the compressed scale of the enclosure, the cross would have been visible from outside it, functioning as a focal point for whatever prayers or rituals the site once hosted, and perhaps still does.