‘And the Romans,’ Liam adds. ‘I think so, yes. There’s evidence they carried out human sacrifice too,’ Liam says, really getting into the topic. ‘The victims were usually people who’d done something bad like betrayed the tribe or committed treason. The tribe would offer them up to the gods. They’d torture them before they killed them, apparently. Stab them multiple times, even disembowel them, and let them bleed to death.’

I glance at him askance, pulling a face. ‘That’s horrible.’

Liam laughs. ‘I forget sometimes that you have a delicate constitution.’

And I forget sometimes that he’s become immune to horrible deeds and gruesome acts of violence, thanks to all the crimes he’s seen. I suppose if you’re around it for so long, get to witness the worst that people are capable of, you probably do develop a thick skin and become inured to it all.

‘It was just a different justice system back then,’ he comments. ‘There were no police or juries or judges. It made sense to them; acted as a deterrent. An eye for an eye and all that. The safety and survival of the tribe depended on it.’

I nod. I know that Liam thinks our current legal system is a joke, and that a lot of criminals get away with murder, often because of technicalities. He doesn’t think jail works as a deterrent at all, and he’s even told me that he believes in capital punishment for the worst offenders. It’s something I find hard to wrap my head around but, then again, I suppose he is closer to it than me: sees the lives these people ruin. And maybe some people are so evil that rehabilitation is impossible, and death is the best option.

‘So how do you know all this about the barrows and the Picts and the Celts?’ I ask Liam as we walk through the woods, heading for the chapel.

He shrugs. ‘History was always my favourite subject at school. The only one I got an A in. This way,’ he says, darting between some holly bushes.

I follow him into a small clearing, within which stands a remarkably intact stone chapel – though it’s weighted down by ivy, the windows are mostly all smashed and weeds sprout between the stones. It must have been rebuilt many times over the years as it looks more Victorian than it does medieval.

It isn’t as creepy as the castle, because it isn’t in such a state of decay, but sitting as it is, shadowed by trees, and seemingly derelict with its broken windows and moss darkening the brickwork, it couldn’t exactly be called inviting either. It has a forlorn sense about it, something that the tumbledown gravestones, which are scattered around and partly hidden among the undergrowth, only help to emphasise.

Liam stares up at the chapel. ‘We could have got married here,’ he says.