John Flinn was a watch manufacturer and one of the first inhabitants of the new Earlsdon estate, building Earlsdon House on Earlsdon Street in 1852. At the same time, so that his workers would not face the necessity of commuting from the city each day, he bought a plot of land just around the corner in Arden Street, where he had a row of thirteen tiny ‘two up, two down’ cottages built for them.
It seems probable that the cottages were tied to Flinn’s own employees, with a very nominal rent if any, and surplus ones let to others for a more realistic rent. They provided modest but convenient housing for the skilled craftsmen who formed the backbone of his watchmaking business.
When Flinn sold Earlsdon House to Joseph White, he also sold the cottages. They passed through various hands over the subsequent decades. Sadly this row of Victorian houses was eventually demolished and has been replaced by a development of flats — removing one of Earlsdon’s few remaining links to its earliest days as a purpose-built artisan community.