It is modest in scale, the stone-lined trough measuring under two metres across, with a low straight wall running seven and a half metres along its southern edge. A holy shrine sits within the enclosure. What gives the place its quiet weight is the fact that it was, and perhaps still is, a site of active religious devotion rather than mere archaeological interest.

The well is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and was traditionally visited on Garland Sunday, the last Sunday of July, which marks the old Irish festival of Lughnasa. On that day, across Ireland, people would climb hills, gather at lakes, and visit holy wells, often walking circuits around them in a practice known as a pattern, combining pre-Christian seasonal custom with Catholic devotion. The Tobermurry well was one such site, recorded as a place of Garland Sunday observance by O'Neill in 1982. The name itself follows the common Irish tobar, meaning well, and the well has been restored in relatively recent times, its stonework tidied and maintained, which is why it presents in better condition than many comparable sites that have quietly disappeared into field margins and undergrowth.