Pleasington Priory

On the way back from lunch in a Lancashire pub, I passed this spooky-looking church. A brief wander around the church yard revealed some remarkable stone carvings, including some that didn't look remotely Christian.

The church is a designated Grade I listed building. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner described it as "an astonishing church", and the  National Heritage List for England states it is an "exceptional form of Catholic chapel for the period before Emancipation. It was built between 1816 and 1819 at a cost of £23,000.