A new heritage plaque in tribute to town walls has been fixed to Tenby Town Walls beside the Five Arches. It commemorates the beginnings of the Walled Towns Friendship Circle with the declaration made at the Circle's symposium at Piran in Slovenia in 1996.

The plaque was unveiled by Peter Osborne, honorary life president of the organisation, who was the author of the wording of the declaration: "Walled Towns are unique inheritances from times long past and should be treasured, maintained and safeguarded from neglect, damage and destruction and passed down into perpetuity as irreplaceable 'Timestones of History'."

Tenby members of the Circle, Peter Osborne, Bob Storey, Trevor Hallett and John Beynon, have been anxious to see the declaration commemorated in Tenby, so sought help with providing a plaque. Tenby Civic Society's executive committee agreed to arrange, pay for and fix the plaque.

The content was agreed, including a Welsh language translation of the declaration by Welsh linguist Annette Mainwaring.

The design would involve more text than the usual circular metal plaques could hold, so a new type of design was produced in a durable outdoor ceramic plaque by ceramic artist Ned Heywood OBE, of Chepstow, who has produced a number of varied hardwearing ceramic wall and pavement plaques.

Tenby Civic Society arranged the permissions from CADW and the county council and the fixing by lime mortar specialist Paul Wakeley, of Pembroke, lime mortar being required by CADW on ancient monuments like Tenby Town Walls.

As well as the English and Welsh language wording of the declaration, the plaque also includes a graphic of the logo of the Walled Towns Circle, which is now titled a federation.