VISITORS are flocking to Wiltshire's museums in record numbers in their quest to find out about the county's history.

Last year saw more than 290,000 people visiting museums, a rise of 18 per cent on the previous year.

Figures for 2002/3 reveal that the county's museums had 290,461 visitors, 43,829 more than in 2002/3.

The figures represent the highest ever totals for the county, a fact staff put down to the increasing popularity of the museums.

Among the success stories was Lackham Agricultural Museum, which saw a 41 per cent increase in visitors to 4,950.

Curator Andrew Davies said: "We were very pleased with this because during 2001 we suffered from the foot-and-mouth epidemic. We were delighted to find that schools were coming back, just under 1,000 children visited us and new schools were coming as well."

Louisa Burden, Wiltshire County Council's conservation and museums manager, said: "This record-breaking success is a tribute to all the hard work put in to attract visitors by members of staff."