That absence is itself the most telling thing about it. Land drainage, carried out at some point in the past, dried it up entirely, leaving behind a site that persists in local memory even as the spring itself does not.

What distinguishes this well from the hundreds of others scattered across Ireland is the particular use its water was put to. Holy wells are most commonly associated with healing, with patterns, with the veneration of saints, and with the ritual rounds, known as turas, that devotees would perform at them. The water at An Tóchar, however, was much sought after specifically for butter making. This practical, domestic purpose sits alongside any spiritual significance the well may have held, a reminder that the line between the sacred and the useful was rarely a sharp one in rural Irish life. Butter was a commodity of real economic importance, and the belief that particular water could improve the churning or protect the yield reflects a tradition of seeking out sources considered especially potent or blessed.