The five BT Telephone Exchanges (and two former) in the Swaffham (01760) telephone area
Castle Acre ATE
Castle Acre telephone exchange is located in Back Lane, Castle Acre, King’s Lynn PE32 2AR and also covers West Acre, South Acre, Newton and West Lexham. It came into service in 1936 as a UAX 12, replacing a manual exchange opened in the post office on 19 August 1911. It was converted to digital working in August 1989, Castle Acre lines becoming Swaffham 575*** numbers.
The principal telephone code for this exchange is 01760-575.
Its former dialling code was 076 05.
ID: EACAA. Photo courtesy of John Cranston.
Great Cressingham ATE
Great Cressingham telephone exchange is located in Water End, Great Cressingham, Thetford IP25 6NN and also covers South Pickenham, Hilborough and Bodney. Its predecessor exchange, possibly on the same site, came into service in about 1939 as a UAX12 with 14 subscribers in an area previously served in part by the Watton exchange. The current exchange was converted to digital working in the early 1990s.
The principal telephone code for this exchange is 01760-576.
Its former dialling code was 076 06.
ID: EAGCR. Photo courtesy of John Cranston.
Holme Hale ATE
Holme Hale telephone exchange is located in School Road, Holme Hale, Thetford IP25 7DP and also covers North Pickenham, Ashill and part of Necton. It came into service in late 1978 or early 1979, taking over from the former automatic exchange when numbers became Holme Hale 440***.
The principal telephone code for this exchange is 01760-44.
Its former dialling code was 0760.
ID: EAHOH. Photo courtesy of John Cranston.
Holme Hale former ATE
The former Holme Hale telephone exchange is located in Station Road, Holme Hale, Thetford IP25 7EF and came into service on 18 November 1930 as an RAX 5, taking over some subscribers in the Ashill area previously served by a rural party line from Watton. It was converted to a UAX12 in 1937. In August 1973, around 250 Holme Hale subscribers in the Necton area were transferred to Swaffham exchange.
Its dialling code was 076 04.
ID: EAHOH. Photo courtesy of John Cranston.
Narborough ATE
Narborough telephone exchange is located in Eastfields, Narborough, Kings Lynn PE32 1SS and also covers Marham, Pentney, West Bilney, East Walton and Narford. The former exchange (on the left) came into service as a UAX 12 in late 1936 or early 1937. It replaced a manual exchange opened in the post office on 5 February 1914, which had taken over the service area of the short-lived Marham exchange (1920-21).
The current exchange came into service in late 1978 when numbers became Narborough 337***. Its former dialling code was 076 03.
The principal telephone codes for this exchange are 01760-337, 01760-338 and 01760-339.
ID: EANAR. Photo courtesy of John Cranston.
Swaffham ATE
Swaffham telephone exchange is located in Lynn Road, Swaffham PE37 7AA and also covers Cockley Cley, Sporle, Little Dunham and part of Necton. It came into service around 1970 when three-digit numbers became Swaffham 21***. In August 1973, it took over around 250 Holme Hale subscribers’ lines in Necton which became Swaffham 22***. All numbers were prefixed with 7 when it was converted to digital working at 7am on 12 May 1993.
The principal telephone codes for this exchange are 01760-7 and 01760-336.
Its former dialling code was 0760.
ID: EASFM. Photo courtesy of John Cranston.
Swaffham former ATE
The former Swaffham telephone exchange is behind the current one in Lynn Road, Swaffham PE37 7AA. It came into service as a UAX13 on 21 November 1939, replacing a manual exchange opened in the post office on 29 December 1909. The building is now disused.
Its former dialling code was 076 02.
ID: EASFM. Photo courtesy of John Cranston.
Acknowledgment:
The photographs and information on this page has been generously provided by John Cranston with the help of
BT Archives, Eric G Clayton, Terry Mallett, and Alan Mortram among many others.