Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Engineer under the Board of Ordnance, active in Ireland and Scotland in the 1740s and 1750s. Lewis Marcelle came from Gard in France, from a family which seems to have been in some favour with Henri de Ruvigny, Earl of Galway.(1) By 1746 he had received the commission of Major in Frampton's regiment and was an engineer on the Irish Establishment.(2) He was in Scotland for the battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746,(3) but had returned to Ireland by 12 May,(4) only to be recalled to Scotland again, on the orders of the Duke of Cumberland,(5) who wished him to take charge of the construction or reconstruction of forts in the Highlands. In the same year Marcelle prepared a report, estimate and plans for the reconstruction of Oliver's Fort near Inverness, but his designs were not executed.(6) Further information about Marcelle occurs in the letter book of Thomas Eyre, surveyor general in Ireland from 1752 to 1763.(7) In 1756 Eyre describes Major Marcelle as third engineer on the Irish Establishment. By 1758 Marcelle had been placed in charge of the works at Duncannon Fort, Co. Wexford,(8) and he was working at Duncannon Fort again in 1759. His name still appears in the Ordnance lists for 1766.(9)



References

Most of the information in this entry comes from Iain MacIvor, 5 Ann St, Edinburgh EH4 1PL.

(1) Information given to Iain McIvor by the Huguenot Society.
(2) Iain MacIvor, citing letter of ?May 1746 from the Duke of Montague, Master General of the Board of Ordnance to Andrew Stone, under secretary of state in Ireland, PRO SP41/37.
(3) Information from Iain MacIvor; according to Thomas Eyre, writing to General Conway on 27 July 1756 (see note 7, below), Marcel's commission 'seems to allot him to the service of the Train when it Marches'.
(4) Information from Iain MacIvor.
(5) See note 2, above.
(6) A complete set of drawings, docketed 'Recd with Major Lewis Marcell's Report & Estimate dated 1746', is in the National Library of Scotland, MS 1647/61/Z2/79-81,83 (information from Iain MacIvor).
(7) MS letter book of Thomas Eyre, IAA 86/149.1, pp.20,69-70,78.
(8) The works were designed by William Skinner, architect of Fort George at Ardersier on the Moray Firth.
(9) IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44.