Two sisters from the USA with the surname Trowbridge were given the VIP treatment at Wiltshire county town’s museum on Friday.

Chanelle and Jazlyn Trowbridge, from Oskaloosa in Iowa, met Trowbridge town mayor Cllr John Knight during a visit to the museum in The Shires shopping centre, where they viewed the family history exhibition.

Chanelle, 23, has been living in London since December on a six-month contract with Regents College, working as their student co-ordinator arranging trips for their overseas students.

She said: "I'd arranged days out to Bath and Bradford on Avon and knew that I was close to Trowbridge but I promised my sister that I would wait for her."

Jazlyn Trowbridge-Fitz, 29, joined her sister for the day trip on Friday, and said: "We've always known that the town existed and its kind of been a life goal for both of us to visit. Finally, we are here and it is very beautiful and actually bigger than we expected.

"Its amazing all the history that has been collected, I've never seen my name written so much.

Cllr Knight said he was honoured to show the sisters around.

“It’s great to have them here. They are the first people with the name Trowbridge that I have met."

The museum is hosting a family history exhibition which the sisters showed an interest in.

Jazlyn said: "We've looked into our own family history and traced it from Iowa to Kansas and then back to Connecticut.

“We believe that it will trace back to England but haven't been able to find any evidence of that yet.”

But it’s not the first time someone with the surname Trowbridge has visited the Wiltshire town.

Roger Newman, a volunteer at the museum, said: "We once had a whole minibus full of people with the name Trowbridge visit us."