The 1842 Ordnance Survey six-inch map marks a ford roughly 1.1 kilometres to the south-south-west, sitting on the boundary between the townlands of Rathmaher and Lackaleigh, and labels it plainly as Chieftain's Ford. That designation, recorded by the surveyors of the early nineteenth century, suggests the crossing held some significance in local memory, associated, however loosely, with a figure of authority or lordship from an earlier era.

Fords were among the most strategically important features of the pre-modern Irish landscape. Before bridges became common, a reliable crossing point controlled movement, trade, and military access, and the most significant ones frequently acquired names that reflected their history. The boundary position of this particular ford is telling. Townland boundaries in Ireland often preserve the outlines of much older territorial divisions, and a crossing that sits precisely on such a line may well have served as a meeting point or a contested threshold between neighbouring powers. The name Chieftain's Ford implies that local tradition once connected the site to a specific individual or dynasty, even if the particular chieftain in question is no longer identifiable.