The conservation expert of some of England’s greatest historical sites will visit West Virginia University Friday, April 8, to speak to students and present a public lecture.
John Burton, Surveyor of the Fabric of Canterbury Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, will meet with undergraduate interior design majors and graduate cultural resource management students in the morning. He will offer a public presentation at 7:30 p.m. that evening in the Gladys G. Davis Theatre in the Creative Arts Center .
As Surveyor of the Fabric, Burton oversees the preservation of Canterbury Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. His experience in the care of historic buildings, both ecclesiastical and secular, resulted in his appointment to the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England and as a consultant to English Heritage. His duties at Canterbury Cathedral include the oversight of their ongoing restoration program. He was responsible for repaving the Nave floor in 1993.
Westminster Abbey is a living church as well as an architectural masterpiece of the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries. Founded as a Benedictine monastery over a thousand years ago, the church was rebuilt by Edward the Confessor in 1065 and again by Henry III in the thirteenth century in the Gothic style seen today.
Canterbury Cathedral is linked to the lives of many great ecclesiastical and national figures. Among the former are the Saints of CanterburyAugustine, Theodore, Odo, Dunstan, Alphege, Anselm, Thomas and Edmundall of whom were Archbishops of Canterbury. The one who became most famous of all was Thomas Becket, who was murdered in his cathedral on 29 December 1170. Appointed by his King and friend, Henry II, to bring the Church to the heel of the monarchy, he did the reverse. He espoused its rights in the face of the King’s desire to control them.
Burton studied at the Oxford School of Architecture and is a senior partner at Purcell Miller Tritton. His firm employs a team of architects, designers and historic building consultants to offer services such as building condition surveys, conservation plans and project management. Purcell Miller Tritton is one of only a handful of firms entrusted to care for properties owned by the British Monarchy.
Burton’s visit has been arranged by Vivien Woofter, who recently retired from the position of director of Interior Design and Furnishings at the U.S. Department of State. Woofter, an alumna of WVU ’s Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences, is a longtime supporter of WVU , serving on advisory boards for both the Davis College and College of Creative Arts . She also serves on the WVU Foundation Board and has been honored by WVU and Davis College alumni organizations for her achievements.
The interior design program is housed in WVU ’s Davis College . Cultural resource management is a graduate track in the history program of WVU ’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. Burton will share his expertise in historical preservation and his knowledge of period style with these groups of WVU students.