The Sproule Maize that is Altamullan – Altamullan Gortin

Altamullan is in the parish of Termonamongan, and it is like a big bowl of Sproule spaghetti – pull any string in Altamullan and there is a Sproule at the end of it!  But it is really tricky to unravel who belongs to who!

Altamullan is a hilly region, but for some reason the Sproules lived there from at least the end of the 1600s and probably before.

The first record we have in Altamullan is of a will of an Isabella Spreull, formerly Boyd, who died there in 1725. (Prerogative Wills) Fred Sproule tells us that there was another will that same year in Altamullan, of a Samuel Spreull, and I am sure this is correct although I have not been able to verify this. So there is a family of affluent Sproules living in Altamullan at that time, but can we tell where in Altamullan this family lived? Yes, we can actually.

In 1733, Thomas Spreull of Golan leased half of the townland of Altamullan. (More on this land in follow-up posts) From this 1733 deed and subsequent revisions of this deed, we know that this was the first Sproule deed, the original perpetual lease, for this half of Altamullan. It is not a revision of an older deed. Therefore, we know that this was definitely not the land that Samuel Spreull and Isabella Boyd lived on. They lived on the other half of Altamullan.

A later Sproule who moved to Altamullan from Bridgehill in 1855,  Thomas Sproule (1802-1893), gave us some insight into these earlier Sproules of Altamullan. He recounted a version of the story of the early Sproules in Ireland in which he says that the first Sproule was Robert, and this of course was what they all believed in those days. He also said that Robert  had four sons. Thomas of Altamullan lists these sons as - a son in Spamount, a son in Grannan, another in Brockagh in County Donegal and a son who settled in the townland of Altamullan, in a place called ‘Gortin’. 

Most of these are the obvious big Sproule families of the day – but not so the Sproules of Gortin in Altamullan. This information is different – the Altamullan Gortin Sproules are not mentioned in other Sproule traditions. This knowledge was passed down through the family of Thomas Sproule of Altamulan, and Thomas was a Golan Sproule He was the great, great grandson of Thomas Spreull of Golan. This is Golan Sproule family information.

So in summary,  Thomas Spreull of Golan took a perpetual lease on one half of Altamullan, and in the other half, part of which is Gortin,  was the family of another Sproule, Samuel Spruell and Isabella Boyd. The Golan Sproule lore, handed to us from Thomas of Altmullan, tells us that these Gortin Sproules are an old original Sproule family. It would seem logical that they are the same line as Thomas Spreull of Golan – they are his family, they are all children and grandchildren of Robert Sproule of Lisleen.

And these Sproules are still there today in Altamullan Gortin.

If we look for Gortin, or Gortine, in Altamullan, we have no difficulty in finding it. It is there on the map, a little hamlet, arround which are gathered Sproule families.

In the Tithe Applotment Book for Termonamongan 1828, it actually gives a separate section called Altamullan Gortin, and here we find four Sproule families:

'Alitimulan' Gortin Tithe Applotment 1828

1. John McCourt            24 acres
2. William Sproule         63 acres
3. John Sproule              21 acres
4. Robert Sproule          23 acres
5. James Sproule           11 acres

In Griffiths Valuation, they are still there, four Sproule families, all living in Gortin. 

Griffiths Valuation

• 17 William Sproule Jun  90 acres
• 18 James Sproule  14 acres
• 19 Robert Sproule Sen   29 acres
• 21 William Sproule Sen  30 acres

What we need now to take this further is Y-DNA. We need  Golan Sproule DNA. Hopefully, some day we will get it, and then we can learn more.

 

References:

• 1725 Will entry for Isabella Spreull, als. Boyd,  Altamullan, p. Termonamongan, from Diocesan and Prerogative Wills, Administrations Indexes, 1595-1858 available on Familysearch.org
• 1725 Will entry for  Samuel Spreull recorded in Vol. 2, Chapter 2,  of Fred Sproule's book, a Sproule Family of Ireland and Canada
• 1733 Deed - made between Hugh Edwards of Castlegore esq on the one part  and Thomas Spreull of Golan, for Altamullan, 71 481 52279 5 Nov 1733, Registry of Deeds, Familysearch.org
• Tithe Applotment Book for Termonamongan available to download in PRONI 
• Information from Thomas Sproule of Altamullan recorded on page 219 of Eight Centuries of the Spreull and Sproule Families by James Richard Sproule, 2nd Edition, unpublished.