IT’S a picture-postcard town that attracts visitors in their tens of thousands - but its fame and name spreads far beyond British shores.

Richmond is the most copied English place name around the world - and that’s official.

According to the Times Universal Atlas of the World there are now no less than 55 towns and cities of the same name around the globe.

And Richmond in North Yorkshire is the mother of them all, with namesakes to be found on at least three continents.

The USA, Canada, Australia and Africa all have their own versions of the town that can itself trace its history back more than 1,000 years.

The name - originally meaning "strong hill" - started its march around the planet thanks to Henry VII whose titles included Earl of Richmond.

He had a palace near London on the Thames at Sheen and when that burnt down he built a new one in the Tudor style using funds from his Yorkshire holding.

Named Richmond Palace, it was completed in around 1499 and the settlement around it expanded over the years, becoming known as Richmond-upon-Thames.

From there the name started its inexorable progress and the third Richmond was the now-bustling city in Virginia, USA.

The American city’s founder, William Byrd, had observed that the view over the James River resembled that to be found over the Thames.

Now there are some 30 Richmonds to be found in the States alone.

There are another five in South Africa, while Jamaica and Australia each have four. Grenada has a couple, New Zealand one and others can be found dotted around the Caribbean.

Back in the original Richmond there is an understandable pride in the tract the name has travelled so far and wide.

"I was in Richmond, Texas, a couple of months ago and the people there presented me with a proclamation acknowledging that we were the first," said mayor Judith Steggles.

"The name is now everywhere and Richmond, North Yorkshire, was the mother of them all."

Local historian Jane Hatcher added: "Some may have taken their name from Richmond-upon-Thames or Richmond, Virginia, but the root of them all is here in North Yorkshire."