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The 01207 telephone area code covers almost the entire area formerly known as Derwentside in the county of Durham, England.

The name of the primary town in the area code 01207 is Consett. Before PhONEday the area code was 0207, which was originally dialled as "OCO7" where the "CO" were formed from the first two letters of COnsett on the telephone dial.

Before STD[link]

The exchanges were:

Changes in the 1960s and 1970s[link]

Following the introduction of STD in 1958, most 4 digit and 3 digit exchanges were prefixed as follows; some exchanges were consolidated into others.

• Consett - 4 digit numbers became 6 digits and prefixed with 50
• Stanley - 4 digit numbers became 5 digits and prefixed with 3
• Dipton 020 753 - 3 digit numbers became 6 digits and prefixed with 570
• Burnopfield - 3 digit numbers became 5 digits and prefixed with 70
• Ebchester 020 76 - 3 digit numbers became 6 digits and prefixed with 560
• Lanchester - 3 digit numbers became 6 digits and prefixed with 520
• Edmundbyers 020 755 - 3 digit numbers became 5 digits and prefixed with 55 - The original code for Edmundbyers was 020 755
• Castleside 020 754 numbers were integrated into Consett telephone exchange and prefixed with 509: Castleside 201 became Consett 509201 (13 July 1977)
• Chopwell 020 751 numbers were integrated into Ebchester telephone exchange and prefixed with 561: Chopwell 201 became Ebchester 561201 (8 November 1978)
• Annfield Plain numbers were integrated into Stanley telephone exchange and prefixed with 34: Annfield Plain 201 became Stanley 34201 (18 April 1972)
• Shotley Bridge numbers were integrated into Consett telephone exchange (29 September 1965)

Changes in the 1980s[link]

In the 1980s a new wave of prefixes were introduced in the area code:

• Rowlands Gill - 4 digit numbers became 6 digits and prefixed with 54
• Stanley - 5 digit numbers became 6 digits and prefixed with 2
• Edmundbyers - 5 digit numbers became 6 digits and prefixed with 2
• Burnopfield - 5 digit numbers became 6 digits and prefixed with 2

In the 1980s, BT planned to rename all exchanges "Derwentside," but with many numbers crossing over into the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead on Burnopfield, Rowlands Gill, and Ebchester exchanges, the idea was scrapped.

Number explosion[link]

There has never been a number explosion in the 01207 area code, and most areas still use their original 1970s/1980s prefix except for Consett and Stanley which have introduced new numbers.

• 21 - DDI for NHS and Derwentside Council
• 23 - Stanley
• 25 - Edmundbyers
• 27 - Burnopfield
• 28 - Stanley (introduced mid 1980s)
• 29 - Stanley (introduced early 1990s)
• 50 - Consett
• 52 - Lanchester
• 54 - Rowlands Gill
• 56 - Ebchester
• 57 - Dipton
• 58 - Consett (introduced early 1990s)
• 59 - Consett (introduced mid 1980s)
• 60 - Cable and Wireless
• 69 - Virgin Media Cable

Short codes[link]

Short codes, a system of abbreviated dialing scrapped in the 1990s was as follows:

• 4 - Rowlands Gill 02074
• 6 - Durham 0385
• 9 - Newcastle 0632
• 998 - Ponteland 0661

Rowlands Gill Only

• 8 - This was the short code to dial into other 0207 exhanges when it was a 4 digit number with area code 02074, even when Rowlands Gill was upgraded to 6 digits and area code 0207 the code remained in place until short codes were abolished nationwide.

References[link]