diff --git a/newsfragments/README.md b/newsfragments/README.md
index 09a10ddc..bcb0412a 100644
--- a/newsfragments/README.md
+++ b/newsfragments/README.md
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ Each file should be named like `<ISSUE>.<TYPE>.rst`, where
 * `internal`
 * `removal`
 * `misc`
+* `breaking`
 
 So for example: `123.feature.rst`, `456.bugfix.rst`
 
diff --git a/newsfragments/validate_files.py b/newsfragments/validate_files.py
index c0e9b289..0a13ec2a 100755
--- a/newsfragments/validate_files.py
+++ b/newsfragments/validate_files.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import pathlib
 import sys
 
 ALLOWED_EXTENSIONS = {
+    '.breaking.rst',
     '.bugfix.rst',
     '.doc.rst',
     '.feature.rst',
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b03fe29e..31433140 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -41,3 +41,8 @@ showcontent = true
 directory = "misc"
 name = "Miscellaneous changes"
 showcontent = false
+
+[[tool.towncrier.type]]
+directory = "breaking"
+name = "Breaking changes"
+showcontent = true