ABSTRACT
The etymology of 'graffiti' comes from a Greek derivation-graphein - 'to write', with the Latin and Italian offerings meaning 'incised' or 'scratched'. The organic nature of graffiti is more broadly representative of the creations, shifts, changes, expansions and erasures of spaces within the village landscape that resulted in the creation of the Benedictine Priory, the parish church, and the Quaker Meeting House. Rural parish churches and churchyards, such as Earls Colne, Essex, are traditionally understood today to be the keepers of memory in terms of the forms of material culture they contain, typified by continuity and stability. But this is erroneous. The graffiti in the Tower of London has been transformed into a national memorial to religious conscience and convictions, the marks of traitors. What separates the Earls Colne and Tower of London examples is fundamentally a debate about the value of national history over local history, and the filters of seeing and omitting in the process of historical writing.
