Large flagstones form the walls, and the roof is corbelled, a technique in which stones are laid in overlapping courses that gradually close inward without mortar or a keystone, creating a self-supporting chamber that has been used in Irish building since prehistory. Over this ancient method, a layer of concrete has been applied, giving the whole thing an oddly layered quality, ancient form beneath a twentieth-century skin. On top of the roof sits a statue and a cut-stone cross inscribed with the date 1842.

That date suggests the structure was formalised, or perhaps rebuilt, during a period when the formal marking of holy wells in Ireland was common, often tied to patterns, the local devotional gatherings held at such sites on a saint's feast day. The well is described as probably still in holy use, which is notable; many such sites have slipped quietly out of active devotion and exist now as archaeological curiosities rather than living places of prayer. That this one continues to attract attention of a religious kind places it among a smaller number of wells in Cork where the tradition has not entirely faded.