The experience shook my son, who explained he had seen what appeared to be a large cat like creature with a very course & hairy coat, large features, and bright glaring GREEN eyes dash across the road in front of them , and disappear through a gap in the hedge on the left hand side. The next morning at breakfast he asked me how big wild Boar grew to, I explained that they were known to grow to the size of a very large pig, around 4' high, and when I asked why he asked the question, he related the whole story to me. It appears that this creature was much larger, he seemed to think it was taller at the
front than the back with huge legs and paws and a large cat like face. After doing some investigation on the net, I found diagrams & pictures of prehistoric & / or mythical beasts, which I showed him & the picture that best describes what he saw is one of a HOMOTHERIUM. He seems to think the "Beast" was at least 6' tall with a dark brown scruffy/woolly coat, with a large feline face and very powerful looking legs and claws. There have been several sitings of this Mythical Beast which has become known locally as "The beast of Garway!" Although other sitings have been made of a much smaller, dark coloured big cat, possibly a Panther or Leopard, this creature was much larger, and was obviously able to travel at extreme speed.... and seems to be a typically nocturnal creature, as there are very few recordings of daytime sitings.
The village of Garway which is steeped in history, with a Church that was built by the Knights Templar in the 12th century (details of which are below), has always had myths and legends surrounding it. There are on the internet all sorts of links regarding Garway & The Knights Templar and quite a lot of sites(Mainly American) pointing towards devil worship and the occult. However most of this comes from iggnorance and hearsay passed down over the century's, especially after the knights said that they were not part of the church and were outside the church taxes levies, and refused admission of the Bishops of Hereford! You can imagine local people living in surrounding villages branding people from Garway as being anti Christ, and Devil worshippers....
Below are the diagrams and details of the Homotherium I showed my son. Take a look at these and make up your own mind!!
Paul ........
HOMOTHERIINI TRIBE: HYENA-LIKE SABRE-TOOTHS
This comprises the genera Machairodus, Homotherium and Xenosmilus. Classification is liable to be revised as more fossils are discovered and there are museum specimens assigned to 4 other genera.
Machairodus is a variable genus of large sabre-toothed cats ranging in size and structure from smaller varieties right up to lion-sized. They were found in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America from 15 - 2 million years ago. The taxonomy is debatable. They have large canine teeth, and its incisors, canines and carnassials has serrated edges. There were two basic types of Machairodus: the primitive type and the evolved type (possibly adaptations to different environments). The more primitive types included M aphanistus and resembled Smilodon. The more evolved type had serrated teeth and elongated forelimbs structurally similar to the hyena-like Homotherium; they may have been ancestral to Homotherium. The variable forms indicate a adaptations to different environments ranging from forest/woodland dwelling to plains hunting. The hyena-like species may have covered long distances while hunting or for opportunistic scavenging.
Homotherium (therium = "beast") is a group of unique hyena-like sabre-toothed cats that also ranged widely (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America) from 3 million - 0.5 million years ago. They were about 1.2 metres (4 ft) long with front limbs longer than the rear ones. Homotherium's incisors were very large and robust and they had serrated medium-length canine teeth. Homotherium is a scimitar-toothed cat i.e. it has shorter, flatter canines than other sabre-tooth cats and its canines curve backwards like scimitar blades. Homotherium would have had the sloping look of a hyena with slender legs and relatively long neck. Its anatomy suggest that it walked with the whole foot on the ground (plantigrade) like a bear. This hyena-like conformation may have allowed them to cover long distances when hunting. It is more likely to have walked semi-plantigrade, the back sloping slightly; an adaptation for greater strength.
Hometherium survived until the end of the last ice age about 14,000 years ago and probably preyed on mammoths, possibly hunting in family groups. In Texas, the bones of a family group of scimitar-tooths are preserved alongside young mammoths and their eventual extinction was probably linked to a decline in prey species. As an adaptation to ice age conditions, some species may have been white or pale grey (like modern arctic predators).
H serum, the North American scimitar cat ,was originally named Dinobastis serus. It was short-tailed and slender-limbed, with relatively long forelimbs and short, powerful hindlimbs. Its deepened chin meant that its upper canines did not protrude beyond the lower margin of the lower jaw. H serum's large nasal opening, like that of the cheetah, would have allowed quicker oxygen intake aiding in rapid running. Skulls show it had a large visual cortex, indicative of a daytime hunter. It was built for short bursts of speed, rather than long chases. The claws of its forelimbs were not retractile, allowing better traction at high speed. Its hind limbs were shorter than its forelimbs and had a bear-like heel and ankle. The long hind feet had non-retractile claws.
H latidens is depicted in paleolithic stone carvings from Isturitz, south-western France show a short-tailed big cat with a deeply set lower jaw. This matches the traits of the European Scimitar-tooth, H latidens. The carving suggests that the cats had spotted pelts and paler undersides. H ultimum, the Asian scimitar cat, occurred in China.
Homotherium ischyros (or Ischyrosmilus), had canines serrated like steak-knives, along their front and back edges. This made it easier to slice through the skin of thick-skinned prey. Megantereon lacked these serrations on its upper canines. Ischyrosmilus's exact taxonomy is unclear and it may be one of the Smilodontini.
THE DETAILS OF St MICHAELS GARWAY.
History.
In Saxon times, Garway, or Llangarewi, was in the southern part of the small kingdom of Archerfield and there was a Saxon church there. The land was granted by the King to St. Dyfrig in the sixth century with 108 acres for the church. There is now no evidence of the Saxon foundation.
During the 1180s, The Knights Templar was granted all the land in Llangarewi by Henry II and this was confirmed to the Knights in 1199 by King John. They used the land to provide monies for the upkeep of the Knights Templar organisation and to house aged or disabled Templars within the Preceptory. The Templars were placed there to guard the border against incursions by the Welsh. The Preceptory was erected to the south of the church on land now belonging to Church Farm. Parts of the foundations of the Templar Preceptory were still visible in 1844 but they were removed and used in the construction of the farm. Jacques de Molay, later martyred by Philip II of France, when he was Grand Master of the English Templars visited the site in 1294.
The Templars remained on the site until 1308 when, following the dissolution of the Order, it was handed over to the Knights of St. John the Hospitaller, who remained in control until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in the 1530s. In this period the buildings at Garway were attached to the Hospitallers’ Preceptory at Dinsmore. There was a long period of friction between the Hospitallers and the Church authorities over Garway. The Hospitallers, as the Templars before them, claimed that they were outside Church jurisdiction and therefore exempt from Church taxes. They therefore refused admittance to successive Bishops of Hereford.
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