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DEREK WILLS, a roof reconstruction expert from England, at work tiling the17th century English house at the museum of American frontier culture.
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Overseas
English craftsman proud to work on Museum project
 For help in restoration and reconstruction, the Museum of American Frontier Culture — a living history operation with four authentic 18th and 19th century farms — goes straight to the source.
Whether the museum is working with stone cottages from Northern Ireland, timber-framed farm buildings from Germany, or log buildings from a farm in the Shenandoah Valley, masons, thatchers, carpenters, and restoration specialists skilled in traditional methods of building construction are employed to provide the same techniques used centuries ago by the original builders. Even the museum’s restoration work and reconstruction methods follow the practices used in the building’s country of origin as they too, differ from country to country.
 The finished buildings coupled with appropriate furnishings, crops, animals, foods, and a knowledgeable staff of costumed interpreters. present a living exhibit of 18th and 19th century European and American culture. There the visitor can see the lifestyles left behind in the Old World and the new life they established in America.
 This attention to detail and the museum's work to preserve European heritage in America, have caused visiting cratftsman and tiler Derek Wills to change his mind about Americans. ‘My opinion of Americans is that they are very fast people,” said Wills, a professional tiler for more than 23 years. Although he had heard some about the project in America to preserve English, German, and Ulster heritage — with a touch of English scepticism — he had his doubts about the scope of such a project and the ability of “Americans” to get the job done right.
 “I didn’t think it could be done and certainly didn’t expect something of this magnitude. It took my breath away to see what the museum has done. The American farm was everything I’d ever learned about and imagined,” said Wills. “Your English house, a typical farm, is absolutely correct.”
 Wills lives in Kent, England in a small town (population 10,000) called Cranbrook. located in the southeast corner of England. As a contractor, he is known for his work with traditional tiled roofs and estimates that 90 percent of his work is on old buildings. |
 His long association with traditional building trades, has Wills at work on a variety of restoration projects.
One of those cooperative projects was a 500-year-old chapel being restored by an English preservation society. When the old tiled roof was stripped off to be replaced, they discovered another set of rafters which once held an earlier roof of thatch. The tiling style often tells a story.
 “In the olden days they used to nail the wooden larths (laths) on with metal nails. However, the climate in England will cause these nails to rust away and the roof would need to be replaced in about a 100 years,” said Wills.
 At the museum’s 400-year-old English house, Wills uses a “proper hammer and nails” to help preserve a bit of English heritage in the countryside of Virginia. The tiles are old and handmade from clay, rectangular in shape, with holes at the top for pegging. The “pegged tiles” are suspended from the wooden laths by a wooden peg drop and layered on the roof much like the shingled roofs of pioneer days. But being made of clay, they would weigh more. |
 Wills estimates the Worchestershire roof’s weight to be about 6 tons.
Wills has now returned to England and enjoyed his first trip to America. “My goal is to bring my wife and kids to the museum, so they can see and appreciate what the museum is doing,” he said. “It’s nice to know that we are preserving English heritage in America for our grand-kids and their kids. I’m proud of what I’ve done and being asked to come Really, I am honored to be part of this project. They’ve done a smashing job.”
What did he like most? “I was most impressed by the friendliness of every person I met. I didn’t expect the welcome I’ve received. Although English house at the Museum of America Frontier Culture.
the weather (blizzard of ‘93) held us back a bit, we finished on schedule, thanks to the able assistance of museum staff.”
What did he miss the most? “Well of course, I miss my family, but other than that I’d say, the English pint.”
text taken from 'leader newspaper published 28th March 1993' |
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