The present proprietor of The Staffs Bookshop is Miss Hawkins, an English graduate with a real love for books.  She has taken over from Mr Peter Stockham who worked for some years to establish the reputation of the shop.  She hopes to continue his work to the same high standard.

4 and 6 Dam Street has been a bookshop for 65 years.  Before that it had a varied life as a guesthouse, private residences, and a preparatory school, but its historical roots go much deeper.  The oldest parts of the Grade II listed building are thought to be Medieval, and down in the cellar the ancient building method of ‘wattle and daub’ can still be seen.

The magnificent Cathedral that dominates the city is situated at the end of Dam Street, leading away to the right of the bookshop.  It is believed that during the English Civil War, the shop (then private residences) served as a base for Parliamentarian troops attacking the Cathedral.  (It was during this battle that the central spire was destroyed, before being rebuilt later on).  Some historians have speculated that an underground tunnel may run from inside the cathedral, along Dam Street to the Guildhall, providing a means of escape for the besieged Royalist troops.

The majority of the present bookshop dates from the eighteenth century.  Some wooden beams in the shop walls were once part of sailing ships that saw battle around the coast of England.  Later still, the young Samuel Johnson would have walked to his lessons past the cottages that are now the shop, to be taught English at Dame Oliver’s school two doors down.  Our shop was used as houses during the nineteenth century.  The present bookshop started life in 1938, while the previous owners took over the shop in 1989.  Everyone at The Staffs Bookshop is honoured to be a part of Lichfield’s rich literary history, and we are proud to serve the local community while bringing the best of Lichfield to visitors.  

The exact historical meaning of the word 'Lichfield' is unclear – it was widely believed until recently that the word was related to the Anglo-Saxon 'lych'; thus meaning literally, 'field of the dead'.  Now some have speculated that it is related to the latin 'letocetum', meaning 'grey wood'.  Letocetum is the name of the Roman historical site a few miles away at Wall.  The impressive ruins there are kept by English Heritage.

Leading left away from the bookshop is the market square and St. Mary’s church.  While the church still holds services on Sunday, it also houses the Heritage Center, a café and a gift shop.  The square outside used to have a rather more gruesome use than it has today – the last person to be burnt at the stake died here.

In the market square, facing toward Dam Street, stands the statue of James Boswell.  Nearby, the image of his friend and the focus of one of the greatest biographies ever written, Dr. Samuel Johnson, sits looking at his birthplace.  Johnson’s father, Michael, ran a bookshop in the tiny city of Lichfield at a time when there weren't many bookshops in Birmingham.  Through his father, Johnson had access to a wide range of literature and by the age of nine, the young man had become a devoted reader of Shakespeare.  Although his education and profession would lead Johnson to London, he always retained a warm affection for the city of his birth and visited his hometown throughout his life.  Parts of his famous English Dictionary were written here.  The Johnson Society still meets often to discuss Johnson’s impact on the rest of English literature.  The Birthplace is now home to a museum dedicated to the life and work of Dr Samuel Johnson, one of the greatest writers and most fascinating personalities of the eighteenth century.

While still living in Lichfield, Johnson opened a school in nearby Edial Hall, where one of his first pupils was David Garrick, the famous actor, who lived in Beacon Street.  The place where his house once stood is now used for council buildings.  To the left of this, further evidence of Lichfield’s literary prominence is reflected in the fact that only the second free library in Britain was built on this spot in 1856.  This building is now the Registry Office (Lichfield’s present library is located in the old Friary Girl’s  School at the junction of St John Street and the Friary). 

Opposite the Registry Office, near to the Cathedral, is the building that was once home to Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of the more-famous Charles Darwin.  However, Erasmus was a great man in his own right – he was a doctor by trade, but also an inventor, a philosopher and a poet.  His friend and fellow poet, Anna Seward, was known as ‘The Swan of Lichfield’ and they collaborated on several works.  At The Staffs Bookshop, we keep a good stock of books about the great people of Lichfield past, and the magnificent city that produced them.