St Mary and St John Baptist (R.C.). Pleasington

Built in 1816‑19 as a thank‑offering of John Francis Butler (later Butler‑Bowden) of Pleasington Hall. It is an astonishing church, especially considering the position of Catholicism in England about 1820. It is large and, though without a tower, very prominent on its site. The aisles have large three‑light windows and battlements and pinnacles, there is a clerestory with an openwork parapet and a tall polygonal apse, and the w front has a large rose window and a portal of three orders with square fleurons set in a giant arch with dogtooth and small carved figures ‑ badly carved, it must be admitted. Above the portal are three statues, carried on figure brackets, the middle one being the bust of Mr Butler in military uniform. In a side niche is the inscription Johannes Palmer Architectus. So John Palmer of Manchester invented this remarkable display. The interior is of five bays, with Perp piers ‑ the whole church is Perp in conception and features ‑ but the arches have dogtooth. The nave and aisles are rib‑vaulted, not in stone of course, and in the nave are large flat bosses with scenes. To the 1. and r. of the altar are reliefs of the Beheading of St John and the Magdalen.

Reference           Catholic Gentleman's Magazine 1818, 146, 241‑2.