That detail alone is striking enough. What makes it stranger is that the well has entirely vanished; no surface trace remains, and whatever tradition once surrounded it has been lost entirely.

The well's name preserves the memory of its peculiarity. "Toberteh" is an anglicisation of Tobar Te, meaning simply "hot water" in Irish, and the Ordnance Survey Name Books, compiled in connection with the first large-scale mapping of Ireland in the 1830s and 1840s, recorded the local explanation: the water was so remarkably warm that winter left no mark on the immediate ground. The well appears on the Ordnance Survey maps of both 1841 to 1842 and 1914, suggesting it was a recognised feature of the landscape for at least several generations. By the time of more recent surveys, however, it had disappeared without leaving any folklore, pattern day, or offering tradition behind it. Holy wells in Ireland were frequently the focus of rounds, prayers, and seasonal gatherings, so the complete absence of any such custom here is itself noteworthy. Whether the well dried up, was filled in, or simply became overgrown and forgotten, no record seems to say.

The warmth attributed to the well may reflect a genuine geothermal or spring characteristic, the kind of consistent ground-temperature anomaly that could keep a small area free of frost even in hard winters. Such springs are not common in Kerry, which makes the original observation in the name books feel like a careful, credible piece of local testimony rather than embellishment. The place now holds nothing visible, only a name on old maps and a single, precise description of ground that once refused to freeze.