Some of the sites we visited were testimonies to the violence that occurred between 1679 and 1688. These years are known as the Killing Times; during which a bible was considered “treasonable papers” and illegal. Similarly, being out after dark was punishable by death. In the most tranquil woods in Muirkirk lies the grave of William Adams. William was a young man who had been working at one of the nearby farms. Every day he met his fiancé near the stream for lunch. On one particular day he had been sitting by the stream, waiting for his girl, with his bible open. Some soldiers were passing by and saw that he was reading the bible. They shot him on sight, no questions asked. His fiancé heard the shot and rushed to see what had happened. The soldiers were crossing the narrow bridge over the steam when she crossed their path. One of the soldiers had tried to push her off the bridge and so enraged her that she pulled him off his horse. He was inclined to kill her for embarrassing him but decided to let her go. She found William dead beside the steam and buried him there herself.