diff --git a/docs/iris/src/common_links.inc b/docs/iris/src/common_links.inc
index 420186cf50..acb6a1ece8 100644
--- a/docs/iris/src/common_links.inc
+++ b/docs/iris/src/common_links.inc
@@ -22,3 +22,5 @@
 .. _New Issue: https://github.com/scitools/iris/issues/new/choose
 .. _matplotlib: https://matplotlib.org/
 .. _conda: https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/
+.. _sphinx: https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/
+.. _napolean: https://sphinxcontrib-napoleon.readthedocs.io/en/latest/sphinxcontrib.napoleon.html
diff --git a/docs/iris/src/whatsnew/latest.rst b/docs/iris/src/whatsnew/latest.rst
index be4062b788..cd96208365 100644
--- a/docs/iris/src/whatsnew/latest.rst
+++ b/docs/iris/src/whatsnew/latest.rst
@@ -247,6 +247,10 @@ This document explains the changes made to Iris for this release
   refused and thus travis-ci_ job failures.  For more information on linkcheck,
   see :ref:`contributing.documentation.testing`.  (:pull:`3873`)
 
+* `@tkknight`_ enabled the napolean_ package that is used by sphinx_ to cater
+  for the existing google style docstrings and to also allow for numpy
+  docstrings.  This resolves :issue:`3841`. (:pull:`3871`)
+
 
 💼 Internal
 ===========