RESIDENTS taking a stroll by the Thames near Tilbury have discovered an unsung work of art that has prompted acclaim for its creator.

However, other graffiti artists have despoiled part of the work by painting tags over it.

For 40 days, an artist known as 742 has painted on a long stretch of concrete sea wall between Tilbury Fort and Coalhouse Fort, posting the birth and death dates of those born after World War I who were affected by military and political conflicts between 1924 and 2024.

They are described as 'nameless dates, each representing thousands of lives'.

The memorial is entitled "100 Years in the Shadow of War. The Poetry of Numbers".

The artist 742 explained the project as follows: "Time is measured in years, centuries, millennia. In numerology, the number 100 symbolizes the beginning and the end of a cycle. For the ancient Egyptians, the hieroglyph for the number 100 was depicted as a rope twisting into a spiral.

"History often repeats itself. Tears and sorrow, fear, hunger remain constant in every age. Torture marks on the body heal as slowly as they did thousands of years ago. It's as if cruelty and stupidity follow humanity like a shadow. In the numbers I paint, shattered lives, persecution, resistance, the struggle for freedom and rights; all human experience is represented.

"They contain the stories of those who did not want to take up arms and those who had to. Those who left this world seeing that it had not changed, that violence continues, and there is no guarantee that a new war will not start."

The story of the artwork has touched many of those who have seen it, but, in recent days, others who appear less impressed have daubed tags over the top of it!