When the Ordnance Survey mapped this part of Ireland in 1840, producing the extraordinarily detailed six-inch series that documented everything from field boundaries to ruins, this structure was absent. It did not appear. Yet here it is, a near-perfect oval of dry-laid stone, its wall standing at 1.4 metres all around, enclosing a holy well at its centre.

Drystone construction, where stones are carefully fitted together without mortar, depends entirely on the skill of the builder and the willingness of someone to maintain it. At Teernea, the wall is described as apparently frequently rebuilt, which tells its own quiet story. This is not a monument that has simply survived; it is one that has been continually renewed, generation after generation deciding that the enclosure around the holy well matters enough to repair. Holy wells in Ireland have been focal points of local devotion for centuries, often predating Christianity and later absorbed into it, their significance surviving changes in official religion and political upheaval alike. The enclosure here measures roughly 23.8 metres north to south and 26.1 metres east to west internally, substantial enough to gather a small crowd, and the wall thickness of around half a metre gives it a solidity that suits a structure treated as something worth preserving. The pavement it sits on slopes gently down to the south-west, which on the exposed Burren limestone would have made the choice of this particular spot a deliberate one.

The site sits on open ground, which means the limestone pavement and the enclosure wall are visible without obstruction. The well itself lies within, and the whole structure has the slightly timeless quality of something that belongs to no single century.