Liberty of Peterborough

Soke of Peterborough
Population
• 1901	41,122
• 1961	74,758
History
• Created	1889
• Abolished	1965
• Succeeded by	Huntingdon and Peterborough
Status	Administrative county
• HQ	Peterborough
• Motto	Cor Unum (One Heart)

The Soke of Peterborough is an historic area of England associated with the City and Diocese of Peterborough, but considered part of Northamptonshire. The Soke was also described as the Liberty of Peterborough, or Nassaburgh hundred, and comprised, besides Peterborough, about thirty parishes.

Presently, the area forms much of the City of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire. The Church of England, however, still describes the diocese as consisting of Northamptonshire, Rutland and the Soke of Peterborough, i.e. that part of the city north of the River Nene.

The term soke refers to a general legal term in medieval England referring to various concepts, including a jurisdiction of land or rights to hold a court or receive fines.

In the Saxon period, the lord of the hundred had the power, or liberty, of holding a court and administering justice within its boundaries, and this system was subsequently continued by the Abbots of Peterborough, who either enforced in person, as lords, the observance of the ancient socage laws and customs, or appointed a deputy to act for them. On the establishment of Quarter Sessions in 1349, the separate jurisdiction of the Soke was still maintained as distinct from that of the county of Northampton; and, except for parliamentary purposes and matters relating to the militia, it was entirely independent of that county. Quarter Sessions for the liberty were held at the Sessions House in Peterborough, and petty sessions at the same place.

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