Merry Christmas from Bradford… and Bradford, and Bradford, and Bradford!

Although our home of Bradford, West Yorkshire, is the original and, of course, the best, there are actually many towns and cities across the world which have “borrowed” the name.

A lot of these are in countries colonised by the British Empire, and they were named specifically as a tribute to our Bradford, which was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution.

As a special treat to readers we got in touch with newspapers in three other Bradfords – Vermont, USA, Dunedin, New Zealand, and Ontario, Canada – and they’ve provided us with some Christmassy pictures of these other Bradfords around the world.

We’ve shared pictures with our colleagues at the other newspapers so images of Bradford, West Yorkshire, will this week be seen by residents of these other Bradfords.

Our thanks go to Miriam King, the editor of the Bradford Times in Ontario, Alex Nuti-de Biasi, the managing editor of the Journal Opinion in Vermont, and Stephen Jaquiery, of the Otago Daily Times in New Zealand for taking part.

Here’s a little information about your fellow Bradfordians in far-flung corners of the Earth:

VERMONT, USA

Bradford is a town in Orange County, Vermont, in the North-Eastern corner of the United States. It’s a small community with a population of just 2,619, spread out over almost 30 square miles.

Originally called Waits Town after being settled in 1765, its name was changed in 1788 by the Vermont General Assembly to Bradford. The main industry has been farming, but in the 19th century it became more industrialised, manufacturing farm implements and goods made from wood and tin. Bradford, VT’s claims to fame include being the home of the very first globe map ever manufactured in the United States, and apparently the only full traffic light in the entire Orange County is located in Bradford!

DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND

The Bradford in New Zealand is located in the urban area of Dunedin, in the Kaikorai Valley. There are several suburbs in the valley, separated from the main Dunedin city centre by a ridge which is part of the crater wall of an extinct volcano. It is a semi-rural area, the eastern side of the valley being residential, with also some light industrial premises. The Bradford suburb is described as lying in the centre of the Kaikorai valley and contains several commercial properties and car yards. Bradford Primary School, which is the focus of the picture sent to us, is in this suburb.

ONTARIO, CANADA

Bradford, Ontario, overlooks a large and beautiful farming community known as Holland Marsh, situated on the Holland River that flows into Lake Simcoe. The river was named after Samuel Holland, the first Surveyor General of British North America, who passed through on an exploration expedition from Toronto in 1791.

Bradford became a village in 1857, with a population of 1,000. In 1871 the downtown area was hit by a devastating fire which destroyed more than 100 homes and most of the businesses. The last census in 2006 gave Bradford a population of just over 24,000.