LONDON, U.K.: A newly discovered 17th-century map sheds light on the exact location of William Shakespeare's hitherto unknown home in London.

Shakespeare scholar Lucy Munro, who discovered the document, said it adds more pieces to the puzzle of William Shakespeare's life. She also said the discovery was partly due to luck, explaining that she found it while searching for other material in the London Archives.

Historians already knew that Shakespeare bought a property in 1613 near the Blackfriars Theatre, but its exact location was unknown. A plaque on a later building only said he had lived somewhere nearby.

A newly found plan of the Blackfriars precinct, revealed by King's College London, clearly shows Shakespeare's house. It was a large L-shaped building made from part of a former medieval monastery, including its gatehouse.

The area had originally been a 13th-century Dominican friary, which was turned into more ordinary buildings after the dissolution of the monasteries under King Henry VIII in the 1500s. The precinct also included the Blackfriars playhouse, which Shakespeare partly owned.

Munro said the area was once popular with wealthy and important people, but over time it became slightly less fashionable as people linked to the theatre, such as Shakespeare, moved in. She explained that even though many important residents still lived there, some complained about the playhouses, seeing them as a nuisance.

Shakespeare used money from his plays to build a large family home in Stratford, where he died in 1616 at the age of 52. It is unclear whether he lived in his London property or rented it out. However, Munro said the size of the house and its location, just a short walk from the theatre, suggest he may have spent more time in London later in life than previously thought. She added that he may have worked on his final plays, Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen, both written with John Fletcher.

Will Tosh of Shakespeare's Globe said the discovery gives a vivid new picture of Shakespeare as a London-based writer. He said it shows how important the city was to him, both professionally and personally.

Shakespeare left the property to his daughter Susanna, and it stayed in the family for about 50 years. Munro also found documents showing it was sold in 1665 by his granddaughter, Elizabeth Hall Nash Barnard. A year later, the building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, which wiped out much of the old city.

Today, only a few traces of Shakespeare's London remain in the area, now part of the financial district. These include a piece of wall from the old friary and a nearby street name, Playhouse Yard, which recalls the theatre that once stood there.

Visitors can also still visit a pub across from the site of Shakespeare's house, believed to have existed in his time. Munro noted that records from the period mention complaints that theatres led to more drinking places opening, which were described at the time as "houses for tippling".

The image shows William Shakespeare's home in Stratford-upon-Avon, the riverside English town, which tourists still flock to.