Holy Trinity Church, Leeds

The Holy Trinity Church on Boar Lane in Leeds is a Church of England place of worship with a rather unusual feature: an outrageous steeple resembling a fully extended telescope standing on its face. The church itself was completed in 1727, but its present steeple didn't appear until 1839. And the story of how it got there is quite an interesting one.

The project had two designers - William Halfpenny and William Etty - none of whom had a steeple in mind. In fact, the two had rather different ideas as to what should go on top. Halfpenny proposed a square colonnade crowned by an obelisk tapering into a spire. In his turn, Etty, whose design was ultimately chosen for the building, didn't aspire to a spire at all! Eventually, someone added a wooden one, but that didn't end well. In 1839, the wind blew the spire down.

That same year, architect Robert Dennis Chantrell came to the rescue with the tall stone steeple we see today. Rising in three progressively smaller stages, topped by a similarly tiered spire, it's certainly hard to miss.

Inside, things are considerably more restrained. The church has a simple rectangular layout, with Corinthian columns lining the sides. But there's one particularly interesting detail above the altar: a gilded carving of a pelican feeding her chicks.

According to an old Christian legend, a mother pelican would tear open her breast to feed her hungry young with her own blood. It's a rather gruesome image of maternal devotion, but one with a deeper religious meaning. The pelican became a symbol of Christ's sacrifice for humanity, making this unusual decoration much more than just an ornamental bird.