IT’S hard to believe that 50 years ago almost no-one in Monmouth had heard of the French town of Carbonne.

Nestled in the Haute-Garonne department of the Midi-Pyrenees, the town is just 40km south of Toulouse and sits on the Garonne river where it meets the Arize river.

Dating from the middle of the 12th century, Carbonne was built in an attractive location on a bend in the river and constructed in the typical style of the region using thin red bricks and white stone. Little remains of the original village thanks to Simon de Montfort who ransacked the area in 1244 as part of his crusade against the Cathars - a fate repeated when the Black Prince razed the area during the Hundred Years War.

Today the town boast a 19th century market hall, a picturesque main street and the 13th century Church of Saint Laurent with its impressive gilded altarpiece and baroque style choir section.

Thanks to its connection with sculptor André Abbal Carbonne now has a reputation as a town which attracts various artists and artisans.

With its checkered and dramatic history it was the ideal town to twin with Monmouth

The fiftieth anniversary of Monmouth’s twinning with Carbonne is celebrated by an exhibition “Fifty Years of Friendship” in the Shire Hall.

The exhibition is free to visit and is open every day (except Wednesday and Sunday) from 11am – 4pm.

Twinning is the official linking of two towns. The twinning movement started at the end of World War II to reunite countries recently at war and to promote friendship. It is still going strong in Monmouthshire with all major towns having at least one twin town as do near neighbours, Lydney, Coleford and Ross. Monmouth also has a German twin town, Waldbronn and Carbonne has twin towns in Germany, Spain and Italy as well as Wales.

Monmouth Town Council suggested the name and the Mayor of Carbonne officially named the close in February 1982.

just three years later in 1985, the Mayor of Monmouth opened the new bridge over the river Garonne, named the Pont du Jumelage (the Twinning Bridge) to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the twinning.

Carbonne (population 6,000) is 40 kilometres to the south of Toulouse in the Haute Garonne Department and close to the department of Ariège.

Today, Carbonne is a prosperous go-ahead town, with an attractive historic centre, and many sporting and cultural facilities and activities

Nestled in a loop of the Garonne River, Carbonne was a ‘bastide’ (a walled-in market town) in the 14th century – one of the last bastides to be built in South-West France.

The 19th century market hall, in the center of the town on the main shopping street, is of interest. An attractive structure built in red brick the market hall uses ironwork instead of wood for its roof structure, a trend that was fashionable in 19th century France and inspired by similar structures in Paris designed by Gustave Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame.

There are also three interesting historical towers in Carbonne including the Tower of the Governor's House and the Colombier de Grilhon, both dating from the 16th century and octagonal in shape with decorative roofs (a colombier is a tower historically used for raising pigeons).

Join the Twinning Association! Membership is open to all Monmouth residents and there’s no need to be able to speak French!

The first year of membership is free as you get to know the group and an individual membership then costs £10 a year. Join through the website, www.monmouthcarbonne.org

The association organises visits to Carbonne every other year where members are hosted by local families, experience French culture and visit fascinating places. In the alternate years, our Carbonne friends visit Monmouth where we host them in families so they can experience Welsh culture, hospitality and get to know our region, writes long-time association member Janes Harvey

Every year, the association organises social events in Monmouth, both for members and to spread the word about twinning – in 2025 there has been a cassoulet supper – (cassoulet is a speciality of the region) - and a wine tasting already and still to come is a barbecue in July , a quiz evening in October and a Christmas themed coffee morning at the end of November. Details of all these events are on the twinning website, www.monmouthcarbonne.org

The Twinning Association can help societies and groups in Monmouth form links with their opposite numbers in Carbonne. Over the years, these have included educational, sporting, and musical visits and exchanges.

The association is very proud of its “Postcards, Posters and Friendship” project

Established in 2020, this cross-cultural Primary language project for Year 3 to Year 6 pupils at Osbaston CiW primary school in Monmouth is developing friendships between pupils in Monmouth and Carbonne as well as promoting a love of languages and cultural understanding. Supported by a grant from Monmouth Town Council, pupils at the two schools exchange greeting cards, artwork, and letters- as well as a Friendship Teddy Bear.

Plans are underway for a team from the junior section of Monmouth’s Kingfishers football club to take part in the 2026 International junior football tournament, held annually in Carbonne over Easter, with an invitation to the Carbonnais to take part in the Monmouth tournament held in June each year.

If your organisation would like to form a link with Carbonne, please get in touch on [email protected]

Would you believe it? Monmouth and Carbonne have been twin towns for half a century! Five decades, fifty years, it seems incredible but it’s true.

We are not going to list all the very many events that have taken place over the last fifty years, organised by our respective twinning committees, sometimes with the help of Europeans funds, but they have included sporting, educational and cultural exchanges.

The “Postcards, Penfriends and Friendship” project already links our primary schools, and we look forward to helping all interested groups and individuals in our two towns set up new links – just get in touch! Every other year a party from Carbonne visits Monmouth and vice versa.

Carbonne is looking forward to hosting 30 Monmouthians for a long weekend in September, staying with Carbonne families, to celebrate our 50th anniversary. It is great news that some younger Carbonnais have joined our twinning committee, and we are looking forward to the new ideas and energy that they will bring.

This year, I am delighted to mark a magnificent milestone: the 50th anniversary of Monmouth’s twinning with Carbonne, France, and our enduring friendship with Waldbronn, Germany.

Since 1975, our bonds with Carbonne have flourished through countless exchanges—cultural, linguistic, scholastic, sporting, and musical—and have enriched our town and shaped unforgettable memoriesOur connection with Waldbronn, rooted in the scenic beauty of the Black Forest, has inspired many wine tastings, barbecues, Welsh‑food evenings, and skittles competitions here in Monmouth, as well as reciprocal visits, creating heartfelt friendships.

This spring, the Twinning Association proudly opened a “Fifty Years of Friendship” exhibition at Shire Hall—crowds gathered for a moving launch by friend and colleague past Mayor David Evans and the display will remain free and open to visitors until December 2025. As Mayor, I extend heartfelt thanks to the volunteers, coordinators, and community members who’ve kept these international friendships alive over five decades.

At a time when war has returned to Europe, our friendship with our twinned towns is more important than ever and a tangible sign of our mutual commitment to peace. Best wishes

On behalf of the Waldbronn Twinning Association I would like to congratulate Monmouth Carbonne Twinning on their 50th anniversary writes Dave Andrews - Chair Waldbronn Twinning Association

I wish them all the best for the future and their upcoming trip to Carbonne in September.

Find out more about Monmouth’s twin town in Germany at www.monmouthwaldbronn.org

The Chepstow/Cormeilles Twinning Association congratulates Monmouth and Carbonne on 50 years of friendship. We’re also celebrating our 50th anniversary this year!

For more information, find us on Facebook or visit our website: https://www.facebook.com/people/Chepstow-Cormeilles-Twinning-Association/100089731212410/

https://chepstowtwinning.wordpress.com/

Les commerçants de Carbonne envoient aux commerçants de Monmouth leurs meilleurs souhaits pour le 50th anniversaire du jumelage.

The shops and businesses of Carbonne send their best wishes to the shops and businesses of Monmouth for the 50th anniversary of the twinning.

We’d like to send our warmest congratulations to the people of Monmouth and Carbonne on 50 marvellous years of twinning.

It’s been our honour to follow the story of this amazing relationship over the past half a century and to report on its landmark anniversaries and achievements. We look forward to covering the developents over the next 50 years!