John Fish B.Sc. Publishers of Tenby in Wales (UK)

TENBY PORTAL PAGES

World First for Tenby

Carter and Binns carried on walking, the Ridgeway trackway eventually reaching a fork which meant they either walked northwards towards the Preseli Mountains or carried on westwards; Binns: "The Warrior said we should take the north turning here. If we carried on westwards we'd come to a place which in the future will be known as Lamphey and has the ruins of a Norman palace, or fortified mansion, of the Bishops of Saint David's where Elizabeth the First's toy-boy, Robert Devereux the Earl of Essex, grew up."

A mile or so further along the track again forked: "Now we carry on westwards towards the Milford Haven Waterway ... While you were away in America I made an interesting discovery in Tenby's Museum. During the sixteenth century a Tenby man called Robert Recorde invented the concept of the Equals Sign and, in fact, we still use the symbol of two short lines which he instigated.

"If you think of how we program our modern digital computers then it's based on the concept of flowcharts in which testing for equality is the underlying principle. So it's quite neat that in the south of the county foundations for digital computing techniques were laid whilst in the north, with the Preseli Bluestones and the stone circles, foundations for analog computing were similarly laid."

"So your new university will be building on a strong academic tradition?"

"Certainly looks that way but then with its foundation all we're really doing is plugging into the lifeforce of the Universe too ... From here we can see the Daugleddau, now if you follow the line of sight you can see what looks like a rock pinnacle: well that's known as Treffgarne Mountain near a place called Wolf's Castle, and in a nearby farmhouse was born in 1354 the greatest hero in Welsh history, the legendary Owain Glyndwr.

"Then in 1682 was born, a few miles to the north-east at a place known in Welsh as Castell Newydd Bach or in English as Little Newcastle ... castell - castle, newydd - new, bach - little ... get it! ... a pirate called Bartholomew Roberts who invented the pirate flag of a skull and crossbones known as the Jolly Roger. Jolly Roger is a bastardisation of his sarcastic French nickname Joli Rouge since he was polite to his victims and always dressed in red - which is why even today the Welsh rugby team sports red shirts!"

"It's like we're going on a pilgrimage, but instead of to Saint David's to the Preseli Mountains and the Preseli Bluestones."

"Could be the same thing: simply the transference of pagan beliefs to the Christian era. But going back to Robert Recorde, he made the first translation into English of the works of the ancient Greek scholar Euclid who wrote about trigonometry. So perhaps Recorde and us are following the same trail!"

"But he hasn't been born yet!"

"That's why I'm thinking of establishing in my new university a new subject area or academic discipline, along the lines of a polymath approach to study the evolutionary nature of the paradigms of human thought."

"What will you call it?"

"Binnsology."

 

Extract from Preseli Bluestones by Sion Pysgod

Published at Tenby in the Pembrokeshire Coastal National Park (Wales, UK)

As a Star of Pembrokeshire Series Paperback