The stones form a low cairn, roughly two metres north to south and three metres east to west, pressed against the eastern side of the well on the crown of a small, low hillock. What makes it unusual is not its size but its possible function: it may be a penitential station, a designated spot where pilgrims would perform acts of physical devotion, typically circuits of prayer walked in bare feet, sometimes accompanied by kneeling on stone.

Penitential stations of this kind are closely associated with the tradition of the pattern, the local annual gathering at a holy well on a saint's feast day, once a widespread practice across Ireland that combined religious observance with communal life. The stones here, partly concealed and low to the ground, give little away about when the practice at this site was most active, or which saint the well was dedicated to. The cairn form, a loose concentration of stones rather than a formal built structure, suggests something accumulated gradually, perhaps by pilgrims adding stones as part of their devotions, a custom recorded at other well sites across Connacht.