We present and discuss optical polarimetry of a large group (60 objects) of peculiar early-type stars (Herbig Ae/Be stars and candidate members, B[e] stars, extreme emission line objects etc.). Most were taken from ``A new catalogue of members and candidate members of Herbig Ae/Be stellar group'' The et al. (1994, Cat. <J/A+AS/104/315>). For 40 out of the 60 objects polarization was measured for the first time. On the basis of the data we draw conclusions about the circumstellar shell configuration and orientation for several objects. Polarimetric variability on different time-scales (minutes...hours...days) was investigated, as well as comparison with earlier measurements to investigate variability over longer time-scales. No circular polarization was detected to a 5{sigma} level in most of the investigated stars. Polarimetric data obtained here as well as data available from the literature were analyzed from the point of investigating the evolutionary status of the objects. The relationship between the polarimetric and photometric data was also investigated.