FORGET Stratford, the Bard centre of the world is set to become a village near Preston after plans were unveiled for a £40 million Shakespeare shrine.

Experts from around the globe have flocked to Hoghton Tower, which is believed to have employed William Shakespeare as a servant, to help create plans to a massive centre for the author recently dubbed Man of the Millennium.

Now Sir Bernard de Hoghton, the owner of Hoghton Tower, is planning to create an exhibition centre in the historic tower's great barn along, and an impressive theatre set in the woods surrounding the grounds, which would use the cliffs on which the tower is perched as a backdrop.

It is hoped the plans, which are estimated to cost £40 million, will make Hoghton the world's Shakespeare capital and give the local economy a massive boost.

Sir Bernard said: "We are hoping to get much of the money from the private sector and that is what we are concentrating on at the moment.

"I believe this would have a huge impact on the economy. You only have to look at Stratford-Upon-Avon is see the impact Shakespeare had there."

Last year, Lancaster University lecturer Richard Wilson claimed to have discovered records which backed up theories that Shakespeare worked at the tower, under the name William Shakeshafte. He is thought to have travelled from Stratford with a Jesuit priest, who trained as a priest in the village after trekking from Rome. Several of the literary master's works are said to based on experiences of Hoghton.

The plans for Hoghton Tower will be discussed as part of a Shakespeare conference due to take place in Lancaster in the summer. The theory of the Bard's connection with Hoghton is one of the topics due to be debated by the world's leading Shakespeare experts.

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