In rough pasture on a north-facing wooded slope near Ballymichael in County Cork, there was once a holy well covered by a corbelled stone structure, a domed or angled covering built from overlapping dry stones without mortar, a technique with roots stretching back to prehistoric Ireland. It stood behind the Lissardagh ambush monument. At some point it was removed, and today there are no visible remains of it whatsoever.

What makes this particular absence worth noting is the layering of history compressed into one small patch of ground. Holy wells in Ireland were focal points for devotional practice long before and long after the arrival of Christianity, often associated with local saints or healing traditions that persisted quietly for centuries. The corbelled covering would have been a relatively rare protective feature, suggesting the well was considered significant enough to merit that effort. The Lissardagh ambush monument beside it relates to a different kind of commemorated event entirely, a reminder of the War of Independence period, and the fact that local memory held onto knowledge of the well's location even after it disappeared is itself telling. The detail about its existence and removal was preserved through local oral information rather than any physical trace.