It is dedicated to St John, and people still visit it, though not in any numbers that would announce themselves to a passing stranger. That combination of modest structure and continued, low-key devotion is characteristic of Irish holy wells, which were never really abandoned so much as allowed to settle into a kind of patient obscurity.

Dedication to St John is common at Irish holy wells, and is often associated with the feast of St John the Baptist on the 24th of June, a date that sits close to midsummer and almost certainly absorbed older observances tied to the season. The stone housing, a practical structure built to protect the spring itself, is a typical feature; such enclosures range from rough unmortared stonework to more carefully cut surrounds, depending on the resources and attention a particular site attracted over the centuries. The well at Rathdangan sits in a landscape shaped by the gentle gradients of west Wicklow, the stream beside it doing the ordinary work of drainage while the spring beside it carries a quieter charge of local meaning.