The Clondermot Sproules – The Records

The Tyrone / Donegal Sproules have had a great deal of attention over the generations, and for a long time it was believed that they were the first Sproules in Ireland. But even a quick look at the Hearth Money Rolls in 1665 would cast doubt on that. At this early stage there are already more Sproule families in Antrim and Clondermot than there are in Tyrone and Donegal.

But in terms of definite proof, we have a lovely document dated 1622 given to me by Dr William Raulston. 1622 was the year that James Spreull the Elder of Cowden was selling his land in Renfrewshire, and while he was doing that, here in Ireland we find that a Robert Sproule and his son Robert Sproule Jun. are already established in the area in north of Tyrone. They were listed in a Survey of the Plantation which took place in the Manor of Dunnalong, very close to Upper Tully, where we see our Clondermot Sproules in the Hearth Money Rolls.

The 1622 Survey of the Plantation, Return for the Manor of Dunnalong, prepared by the Agent of the Earl of Abercorn. 

Gabriel Spruel can be seen there in the Hearth Money Rolls of 1665 and he is in Upper Tully. There also are three Sproule households in Gortin with Thomas Spruel, John Spruel and the Widow Spruel.

 The Evish Sproules, living now near Stabane, had a tradition in their family that they had moved to Evish from a place called Gortin. It was only with the benefit of Y-DNA that the family found out that they were Clondermot Sproules, and that their Gortin had to be this one, near the River Foyle.

By 1740 the Sproules have expanded into Primity, which is right where New Buildings is now. We have two families there, that of Jacob Sproule and of Samuel Sproule.

There is a record from 1690 in Londonderry Cathedral of a Jacobus Sprewell, according to Fred Sproule, and this Jacobus is involved in reorganising the Clondermot Parish. It looks like that Jacob could well be from this Primity family.

In the Flax Growers Bounty List of 1796 we have three Sproules, although this does not give the townland win which they lived:

• David Sproul Clondermot Derry
• Esther Sprowle Clondermot Derry
• John Sprowle Clondermot Derry

Flax Growers List 1796 Derry from Bill Macafee

The name David has now arrived in Clondermot, and it becomes a regular name in this Sproule line, as does the name Samuel.

By the time of the Tithe Applotment in 1834, the Sproules are now gone completely from both Gortin and Upper Tully, and they are only to be found in Primity. 

In Griffiths Valuation in the mid 1850s there are three Sproules named in Primity, but only two holdings, the last of the Sproules in Clondermot.

So we can see that the names Samuel and David are still there in Primity. However, both these gentlemen were soon to be gone also, as we can see from the Londonderry Sentinal entries for their deaths:

So the Clondermot Sproules had moved. Thanks to the Sproule Project DNA we have located some of them, and we will name those in the next post. 

But for now a final entry from a newspaper. We began with the 1622 document of the two Robert Sproules, father and son, in the Bready area. I’ll finish with a… well how can I say it, a more problematic piece of evidence from the same area, but two hundred years later. 

References:

• 1622 Survey of the Plantation - Thanks to Dr William Roulston, Research Director, Ulster Historical Foundation for the 1622 return prepared for the Manor of Dunnalong by the agent of the Earl of Abercorn, the original of which is in the Huntington and Peterborough Record Office.
• Most of the details here are taken from the excellent work of Bill Macafee, and his site is http://www.billmacafee.com.