What makes it quietly singular is the date associated with it: the 20th of December, the deepest point of winter, is when it was traditionally visited. Most holy wells in Ireland are tied to the feast day of their patron saint, often falling in the warmer months, so a midwinter pilgrimage to a coastal spring in Connemara carries a particular weight.

The well is known locally as Tobar Naomh Thomáis, the well of Saint Thomas. The feast of Saint Thomas falls on the 21st of December, which places the traditional visiting date of the 20th in close alignment with that observance, and also, notably, near the winter solstice. The well's reputed cure was for ailments of the eyes, a specialisation that appears with some frequency among Irish holy wells and is often connected to the clarity or particular quality of the spring water. The shrine beside the spring is unassuming, constructed from rough stone rather than any elaborate masonry, which is typical of rural well shrines that accumulated gradually through local devotion rather than formal ecclesiastical patronage.