Holy wells of this kind are among the most numerous and least-studied archaeological features in Ireland, ordinary enough in their appearance, often just a spring or stone-lined pool, yet frequently tied to patterns of local devotion, patron days, and the kind of folk memory that persists long after formal religious practice has moved elsewhere.

The well carries the name of its townland, Cooleeny, which is itself a small and relatively obscure place in the west of Galway. Beyond its classification as a recorded monument, the specific history of this well, its patron saint if it had one, the nature of any patterns or rounds once performed there, and the condition of any stonework or enclosure around it, remains to be established from surviving local sources.