Twice daily the sea claims them, flooding in with the spring tides and rendering their water brackish. And yet, according to local tradition, one of these pools holds pure spring water regardless, and has done so for centuries. The depressions worn into the rock nearby are said to be the hoofprints of a horse that once jumped three miles of open water in a single bound.

The story behind those marks was recorded by pupils at Blackwater Bridge School as part of the Irish Folklore Commission's Schools' Collection in the 1930s, a nationwide project that gathered local traditions through schoolchildren across Ireland. The account they set down describes a priest, during the Penal Laws when Catholic worship was forbidden and clergy were pursued as criminals, who was preparing to say Mass somewhere across Kenmare Bay. Spotted by a crowd of Protestant soldiers, he mounted his horse, struck it with a whip, and the animal leapt the full three miles of water between Tuosist on the Beara side and Rossmore Island in Iveragh. When the horse landed on the rocky shore, its hooves struck the stone and left their impression. The priest, the story continues, said Mass beside one of the pools, blessed the water, and the well spread out to a greater size. People came there afterwards to pray rounds, the traditional practice of walking a circuit around a sacred site while reciting prayers. The pool was known locally as 'The Blessed Well', a name recorded by Ó Cíobháin. The site lies roughly 130 metres south-east of a ceallúnach, an early medieval burial ground associated with unbaptised children or those who died outside the Church, which adds a further layer of quiet significance to this stretch of shoreline.