ONE of two blue plaques dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the twinning of Chepstow and Cormeilles has been unveiled on the wall of Chepstow's Gatehouse.

The unveiling event took place on Saturday 18th June with town dignitaries in attendance to see the English version erected in Chepstow.

Cormeilles' twinning committee will be presented with a matching plaque, though in French, for the group to put up in the Normandy town.

Designed by specialist blue plaque maker and Chepstow resident Ned Heywood, the plaques feature the original design of St Mary's Church door.

This is to recognise the link between the towns which goes back as far as the Norman Conquest when Chepstow Priory was founded as a dependent house of the Abbey of Cormeilles.

The official twinning arrangement goes back to 1975 when Chepstow town council invited its Cormeilles counterpart to become officially twinned, before the oath was signed the next year by the mayors of each town.