PLANNING permission has been granted for the erection of two Blue Plaques dedicated to the twinning of Chepstow with Cormeilles.

One will be in English and the other in French, with the plaques commemorating the official twinning of the towns in 1976.

The twinning of Chepstow with Cormeilles is founded on an ancient connection dating back to the Norman Conquest, when Chepstow Castle was established in 1067 by William Fitz-Osbern, Knight of Cormeilles.

The Priory and Church of St Mary were founded at the same time as a dependent house of the Abbey of Cormeilles.

The present twinning arrangement dates back to 1972 when Abbé Meron from Cormeilles visited Chepstow and met with Canon Barrie Evans.

Consequently, in 1975 the Chepstow town council invited Cormeilles to become officially twinned with Chepstow and the twinning oath was signed in Cormeilles in 1976 by the Mayor of Chepstow.

Ned Heywood has designed the plaques, which will be mounted within the next couple of months.

"I used the original medieval design for the church door on the plaques," said Mr Heywood who's ceramics studio is in Chepstow and who is a specialist blue plaque maker.