Peterborough is a cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. For centuries, the city and many of its surrounding villages formed the Soke of Peterborough, in the historic county of Northamptonshire. The Soke of Peterborough had an independent county council, based in the city, between 1889 and 1965. After the Soke of Peterborough was abolished in 1965, the city formed part of the short-lived Huntingdon and Peterborough until 1974.