It came to light in September 2020 when construction crews broke ground for the Ennis Public Realm Regeneration Project, and what they found was remarkably well preserved: a roughly rectangular shaft measuring 1.3 metres east to west and 1.2 metres north to south, its walls built from medium-sized, roughly cut stone blocks, dropping 1.58 metres to a base of compacted stone and clay.

The well sits within the historic core of Ennis, and while its precise date remains unknown, it appears to predate the Ordnance Survey map of 1840, which suggests it was already an established, likely forgotten feature of the town's fabric before the nineteenth century brought more systematic cartographic attention to such things. The excavation was carried out by Moore Archaeological and Environmental Services, and the work was not without its complications: a utility duct running immediately to the south of the well indicates that earlier ground disturbance in the area may already have affected part of the structure before archaeologists ever reached it. That the well survived as well as it did, given the layered interventions of a working town over many generations, is itself somewhat remarkable.

Rather than being removed or reburied, the well is to be preserved in situ and incorporated into the streetscape as a visible feature, meaning that a piece of Ennis's pre-Victorian infrastructure will eventually be accessible at street level on Curtin's Lane for anyone who happens to look down at the right moment.