The main feature of the well today is a rectangular stone tank with a rounded north east end which measures 13 metres by 7.8 metres. This tank is considered to be of Roman origin and located on a halting place along the Roman road which runs from High Rochester Roman fort to the River Aln. A natural spring feeds the tank, the water being filtered through fine sand at the bottom. In the medieval period the Augustinian nuns who inhabited the priory at Holystone gained possession of the well and it is thought that the name Lady's Well may have been given at this time. The well, which had been a ruin for some time, was repaired in 1780 when the stone edging walls were rebuilt and a fifteenth century stone statue was brought from Alnwick Castle and erected in the centre of the well.