 Sharpe was persuaded by his future brother @-@ in @-@ law John Fletcher , owner of Ladyshore Colliery , to experiment with the use of terracotta in the structure of his churches ; not just for decoration , as had been done before , but for the whole structure of the church , other than the foundations and rubble infill . The churches resulting from this project were St Stephen and All Martyrs , Lever Bridge ( 1842 – 44 ) , and Holy Trinity , Rusholme ( 1845 – 46 ) . These were nicknamed by Sharpe himself as " the pot churches " . 
