Sawston War Memorial

Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, Northamptonshire to the west, and Bedfordshire to the south-west. The largest settlement is the city of Peterborough. The county has an area of 3,389 km2 (1,309 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 906,814 in 2022. Peterborough, in the north-west, and Cambridge, in the south, are the largest settlements. The remainder of the county is rural, and contains the city of Ely in the east, Wisbech in the north-east, and St Neots and Huntingdon in the west. For local government purposes Cambridgeshire comprises a non-metropolitan county, with five districts, and the unitary authority area of Peterborough; their local authorities collaborate through Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. The county did not historically include Huntingdonshire or the Soke of Peterborough, which was part of Northamptonshire. The north and east of the county are dominated by the Fens, an extremely flat, drained marsh maintained by drainage ditches and dykes; Holme Fen is the UK's lowest physical point, at 2.75 m (9 ft) below sea level. The flatness of the landscape makes the few areas of higher ground, such as that Ely is built on, very conspicuous. The landscape in the south and west is gently undulating. Cambridgeshire's principal rivers are the Nene, which flows through the north of the county and is canalised east of Peterborough; the Great Ouse, which flows from west to east past Huntingdon and Ely; and the Cam, a tributary of the Great Ouse which flows through Cambridge.