The well, modernised in 2010 with flat stone slabs resting on rectangular mortared piers, remains an active pilgrimage site where devotees continue centuries-old traditions. Surrounded by a cairn of stones left by countless pilgrims over the years, the site bears witness to an enduring folk practice that blends Catholic prayer with ancient ritual patterns.

The pilgrimage traditions here follow a precise choreography recorded by folklorist Ó Muirgheasa in 1936. On St. Colmcille’s feast day, 9th June, pilgrims perform stations beginning with five Our Fathers and Hail Marys at the front of the well, followed by seven prayers to the left, then seven more to the right after walking sunwise behind the well. This sequence is repeated three times, after which pilgrims circumambulate the well three times, adding a pebble to the cairn with each circuit before finishing with personal petitions. Traditionally, pilgrims would take home a bottle of the well water, believed to possess healing properties.

Today’s visitors continue to leave votive offerings at the site; statues, rosary beads, crosses, flowers, pictures, coins, and even biros accumulate on the stone slabs covering the well. This mixture of traditional and contemporary offerings reflects how the site remains meaningful to local communities, adapting to modern times whilst maintaining its essential character as a place where the sacred meets the everyday. The well at Carryblagh stands as one of many such sites across Donegal where pre-Christian water veneration merged seamlessly with Christian devotion, creating uniquely Irish expressions of faith that persist into the 21st century.