Peterborough is a cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district of Cambridgeshire, England. The city and its surroundings, the Soke of Peterborough, had an independent county council between 1889 and 1965. It formed part of the short-lived Huntingdon and Peterborough between 1965 and 1974. Before 1889, it was a liberty of Northamptonshire. The city is 76 mi north of London, on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea 30 mi to the north-east.