It sits among several other small springs in the same hillside, indistinguishable to a passing eye, which raises an quietly interesting question: how does a holy well remain a holy well when nothing sets it apart from its neighbours?

Saint Kevin, the sixth-century monastic founder most closely associated with Glendalough a short distance to the south-west, left his name scattered across the landscape of Wicklow in wells, churches, and townland names. Holy wells in Ireland were typically venerated as sites of healing or prayer, often visited on the feast day of their patron saint, and the physical source of the water, usually a natural spring, was understood to carry spiritual as well as curative significance. That this particular spring at Kilbride carries his name suggests a long local memory of association with the saint, even if the well itself now goes unmarked and unenclosed.