William Shakespeare could have worked as a humble schoolmaster during his 'lost years', historians claimed today.
For more than 400 years, Stratford-upon-Avon has held the unrivalled crown as the playwright's home.
Now devotees of the Bard in Titchfield, Hampshire, have laid claim to their part of the nation's literary heritage.
Kevin Fraser, chairman of Titchfield Festival Theatre believes Shakespeare pent three years working as a schoolmaster at the Grammar School there between 1589 and 1592
They believe Shakespeare spent three years working as a schoolmaster at the Grammar School there between 1589 and 1592.
The theory matches Shakespeare's friendship with his patron Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton, who owned Titchfield Abbey, later known as Place House.
Locals have pointed to the fact that Shakespeare wrote just two dedications in his life and they were both dedicated to Wriothesley.
Members have launched a bid to rival Stratford's tourist status, including a Shakespeare Trail complete with characters guiding visitors around
Titchfield Festival Theatre group claim the area's surroundings may have inspired his plays Henry V and Love's Labour's Lost.
They believe his works would have been produced and performed by locals.
Members have launched a bid to rival Stratford's tourist status, including a Shakespeare Trail complete with characters guiding visitors around.
Kevin Fraser, chairman of Titchfield Festival Theatre, said: 'We should be on the Shakespeare map, there's no two ways about it.
'It should really be Stratford, London and Titchfield.
'Here we have Shakespeare potentially working and living in Titchfield. We're not saying this is the only idea but we have a lot of evidence - we believe we have the buildings.
'There is as much evidence if you like of Shakespeare being here as he is in Stratford.
'I think it's a fantastic story and it needs to be told to a wider world.'
The players need £600,000 pounds from a Heritage Lottery grant to fund the trail, small Elizabethan theatre, audio guide and interactive exhibition.
Retired physicist Ken Groves, is a Titchfield History Society committee member and has lived in the Old Grammar School since 1969.
Tests on the one-bedroom house's beams reveal it dates back to 1447 and it is referred to as the school house in records from 1542.
Mr Groves said: 'It's well known that William Shakespeare 'disappeared' for a number of years and was a school master in the countryside.
'Because of his well-documented close relationship with the 3rd Earl of Southampton, we think it's a strong possibility he lived and taught here.
'It's such an interesting story.
'Upstairs the house is in a similar condition to 400 years ago, so sometimes when I'm lying in bed I look up and think how marvellous it is to see the same beams as Shakespeare.'
The theatre group point out landscapes and locations in Love's Labour's Lost that fit with those in Titchfield.
The theory draws on Shakespeare's friendship with his patron Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton, who owned Titchfield Abbey, later known as Place House
The group believe the character Holofernes satirises the Earl's tutor, John Floriot.
And Henry V stayed in Titchfield Abbey before war in France, plus Henry VI was married in the Abbey.
SHAKESPEARE: 'RUTHLESS BUSINESSMAN AND TAX DODGER'
William Shakespeare was a 'ruthless businessman' and tax dodger, researchers have claimed.
Researchers at Aberystwyth University carried out an academic study looking into Shakespeare's 'other life' as one of Warwickshire's biggest landowners and have uncovered the less than savoury side to Britain's greatest playwright.
Archived documents show the playwright was actually a wealthy landowner repeatedly dragged before the courts and fined for illegally stockpiling food and threatened with jail for evading taxes.
He 'stored grain, malt and barley for resale at inflated prices to neighbours and local tradesmen' at a time when Europe was suffering famines, the academics said, and channelled the profits into land purchases.
They added that Shakespeare did all he could to 'avoid taxes, maximise profits at others' expense and exploit the vulnerable – while writing plays about their plight'.
The trail will include a walk around the Abbey, an old mill site dating back 1,000 years, and the Saxon church where the Wriothesley family are buried.
But Professor Michael Dobson, the Director of the Shakespeare Institute, based in Stratford, warned that Titchfield should think twice before trying to steal Stratford's crown.
Prof Dobson, a lecturer at Birmingham University, said: 'People have speculated since the 19th century whether Shakespeare spent any time as a guest of the Earl of Southampton.
'But when Shakespeare pops up in London in 1592, he's already an up and coming playwright.
'I think it's highly unlikely he spent all that time in the countryside.
'If tourists want to be close to Shakespeare they should come to Stratford instead.'
After his twins were born in 1583, the Bard 'disappeared' according to history books until he was mentioned again as part of the London theatre scene in1592.
This period is often referred to as his 'lost years'.
Many historians have published theories on where he spent the so called missing years, including Nicholas Rowe, Shakespeare's first biographer.
He believed the playwright went to London to escape prosecution for deer hunting.Other theories see him looking after the horses of theatre patrons in London, ahead of his theatrical career.
