Monmouth is now the world's first town to be completely covered on the internet site Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.

The Monmouthpedia project; the brianchild of John Cummings who suggested to Wikipedia at a meeting in Bristol that it should put a whole town on its site, now offers complete coverage of the town in dozens of different languages through the hundreds of QR codes springing up all over town.

These are a type of bar code a smartphone can read through its camera that takes you to a Wikipedia site.

Czech speakers can now learn about Monmouth Castle in their own tongue, while Hungarian speakers can read articles on the Monmouth Cricket Club, the Methodist Church and Lord Nelson.

More than 450 new articles about Monmouth have been added to Wikipedia and nearly 150 existing articles have been improved in the past six months.

Monmouth was chosen because of its rich cultural history. Not only does the town have famous connections with Henry V and Charles Rolls, but the town also boasts a 13th century bridge, the only remaining one of its kind in Britain.

John Cummings said: "We have been working hard to meet our target of 2,000 QRpedia codes in Monmouth by the end of April and we're just about there."

Monmouthshire County Council has supported the project since its inception and will be providing free wifi in the town to aid people's use of the QRpedia codes.

The council's chief officer for regeneration and culture, Kellie Beirne, said: "Monmouthpedia is causing a real buzz around the town and these QRpedia codes are opening up a whole new world of knowledge about the great things Monmouth has to offer.

For more on this story, see this week's Beacon (23rd May)