South of these thanages lay those of Aberkerdor and Natherdale, co-extensive with the parish of Marnoch, and that of Conveth, with the parish of Inverkeithnie. Of these thanages we have some information prior to the war of independence. Between 1286 and 1289, Simon, thane of Aberkerdor, founds the chapel of Saint Menimius on the banks of the Dovern, and grants certain lands to it; and in an inquisition regarding this foundation in 1369, it is found that Simon was thane of the two thanages of Conveth and Aberkerdor, and owing to derelict against the king he had seized both thanages, on which Simon made over six davachs of Conveth to the earl of Buchan, in order that he might recover the other thanage of Aberkerdor, and founded the chapel in consequence. He appears to have had an only daughter and heiress, and the thanage of Aberkerdor is found in the Crown in the reign of David II., who includes it in the grant to Walter de Leslie formerly noticed,[325] in whose favour it was erected into a barony. From the thanage of Conveth, co-extensive with the parish of Inverkeithnie, to the eastern seaboard between the Ythan and the Don, lay the extensive thanage of Fermartyn, the principal seat of which was Fyvie. Its annual value in the reign of Alexander the Third was 120 marks, and it appears to have been farmed by a tenant, as _Reginald Firmarius de Fermartyn_ accounts in the Chamberlain Rolls of that reign for its _firma_ or rent.[326] It consisted, like other large thanages, of thanage and forest, and among the missing charters of Robert the First is one to Sir John Broun of the thanage of Fermartyn, and another to Patrick de Monteath of the office of forestership of Killanell and Fermartyn, showing that the forest had become a royal forest; David the Second, however, grants one-half of his thanage of Fermartyn to William, earl of Sutherland, for his life, with its tenandries and services of the freeholders (_liberetenencium_), and with its bondmen, and their bondage services, native-men and their followers, to be held in free barony, and his heirs to hold it in ward and relief. The other half of the thanage was held, as appears by the Chamberlain Rolls, by Thomas Isaak, but it appears to have again fallen to the Crown, and is finally granted by King Robert the Third as a barony to Henry de Prestoune, with the town and castle of Fyvie.[327] Adjacent to Fermartyn on the sea-coast was the smaller thanage of Belhelvie. We know nothing of its history as a thanage prior to the war of independence, but in 1323 Robert the Bruce confirms to Hugo de Barclay for his homage and service the lordship of the thanage of Belhelvie, with the lands of Westerton, Keer, and Egie, within the said thanage, with the office of sergand, and the _Can_ of the church land of Belhelvie, extending to forty-pound land and rent, to be held as a free barony, rendering the Scottish service pertaining to a forty-pound land, and the lands to return to the king on