The Burning of Mary Channing

On the 15th January, 1704, Mary Brookes was married to Thomas Channing in Dorchester at the age of just 16. Within a year, she was on trial for her life, accused of killing her husband. Was Mary a callous murderer? Or was she just a naive young woman whose life simply spiralled out of control?

This fictionalised account of Mary’s story draws on all the available facts from the time and follows her life from when she was forced to marry a man she didn’t love through to her horrific execution just two years later.