Talk:Isle of Wight

IOW

What's the justification for including 'IOW' in the lead? I'm not opposed to mentioning it in the body, but the trend in the county articles been against mentioning abbreviations in the lead. @MapReader@Shlumble A.D.Hope (talk) 10:49, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

I reverted the edit - and will do so again, under BRD, as it's a long-standing within the article - because the reason for deleting it was given as it not being the notable abbreviation, when it quite clearly is. When counties were part of the official addressing system of the UK, prior to their becoming superflous with mechanised sorting, "IOW" was how letters to the island were addressed. Five minutes on Google will confirm it's commonplace. Moving it to the body, on the grounds that it's not significant enough to be featured in the lead, is a different point entirely - but that wasn't the edit that was made. MapReader (talk) 11:03, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

While I agree with your basic premise, the article on Hampshire has the abbreviation Hants in the lede for example, It is not necessary to indulge in bullying and edit-warring because someone disagrees with you. Murgatroyd49 (talk) 11:23, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

'IOW' is not a long-standing feature of the article lead, so far as I can tell by checking random edits in the edit history back to the start of 2022. That means that the 'bold' element of BRD in this case is inserting the abbreviation, not removing it. A.D.Hope (talk) 11:28, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

On a random selection of half a dozen county articles: Hampshire, Berkshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire; all have abbreviations in the lede though generally not bolded. Murgatroyd49 (talk) 11:56, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

But not Cheshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Greater London, City of London, Somerset, Northumberland and others, though the source provided in the edit that started this includes abbreviations for most (but Lnd for London): Chs, Nfk, Sfk, Som, Nbl. (For those you mention it provides Ham, Brk, Ntt, Nth, Bkm and Bdf.) NebY (talk) 12:10, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

By my count, of the the 48 ceremonial county articles, sixteen give an abbreviation in the lead. They appear to be derived from the postal county abbreviations, which are obsolete and different to the abbreviations given in the source you link to. A.D.Hope (talk) 14:18, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

You’re right, and I apologise for not checking the page history. In which case it should be discussed before being included - probably it’s a matter for the body rather than the lead. My problem with the original revert was the suggestion that IOW isn’t a widely used abbreviation used for the island - which, as someone who lives there, I know that it is. MapReader (talk) 13:28, 11 January 2026 (UTC)

Use of "border"

@A.D.Hope: is there really a need to have a discussion about this? Hampshire and the Isle of Wight do not "border" each other. They are separated from each other by about three miles of water. Zacwill (talk) 13:47, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

As it stands, this article, Hampshire, Essex, Kent, and Merseyside all use similar wording to indicate that they border other counties across bodies of water. If you want to change this so that we no longer say those counties have maritime borders I do think a discussion should happen. A.D.Hope (talk) 13:56, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

Would you say that England borders France? Zacwill (talk) 13:58, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

The UK and France share a maritime border. A.D.Hope (talk) 14:00, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

Right, but describing them as "bordering" each other implies the existence of a land border, not a maritime boundary. In any case, counties are not sovereign states and do not (as far as I'm aware) have maritime boundaries. Zacwill (talk) 14:10, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

The article says the Isle of Wight and Hampshire border each other across the Solent strait. A straight is a body of water, so there is no implication of a land border between the two.

I don't see why counties can have land borders but not maritime ones, but this is why I thought a discussion would be beneficial. I'm not especially bothered what the outcome is, but it's important it's informed and consistent across the county articles. A.D.Hope (talk) 14:24, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

A maritime boundary separates two areas of water that have been claimed by two different countries. As far as I know, neither Hampshire nor the Isle of Wight lays claim to any part of the Solent, and thus there is no maritime boundary between them. Zacwill (talk) 14:44, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

Are you saying that with certainty or making a guess? If the latter, we'll have to look at the legislation to see exactly how the Isle of Wight and Hampshire are defined. A.D.Hope (talk) 14:54, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

I'm basing this on official maps of administrative areas. Zacwill (talk) 15:13, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

The Ordnance Survey official Election Maps show the boundaries of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight following the respective shore-lines. Murgatroyd49 (talk) 15:31, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

Are election maps not about Westminster constituencies, rather than lieutenancy areas? A.D.Hope (talk) 16:15, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

There are various options on which boundaries to display, covering every combination of localand national government. Start at <https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/index.html>, Murgatroyd49 (talk) 16:34, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for the link. It's a bit finicky, as only two boundary types can be shown at once and the top level of English local government has four.

Nevertheless, it's starting to look like Merseyside and Flintshire on the one hand and Kent and Essex on the other do share boundaries down the Dee and Thames estuary respectively. Hampshire and the Isle of Wight do not appear to share a border. Perhaps the counties are defined by the mean high tide mark, although I can't find a legislative basis for this and that is an issue. It also doesn't explain Bristol's bizarre extension into the Bristol Channel, as the islands of Steep Holm and Flat Holm to which it extends are apparently in North Somerset and Cardiff respectively. A.D.Hope (talk) 16:43, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

What does the legislation say? That will give the clearest picture. A.D.Hope (talk) 16:12, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

Perhaps it would be better if you found a source indicating that Hampshire and the Isle of Wight do share a maritime boundary rather than asking me to prove a negative. Zacwill (talk) 16:19, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

I'm not asking you to prove a negative. I'm asking you to look at the legislation, starting with the Local Government Act 1972, to see how Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are defined. I'm currently doing so myself. A.D.Hope (talk) 16:21, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

The county of the Isle of Wight was created by this piece of legislation from 1889, which states: The administrative County of Southampton as constituted by the [Local Government Act 1888] shall be divided and the boundaries thereof shall be altered in such a manner that the Isle of Wight shall cease to form part thereof, and that the Isle of Wight and the remainder of the County of Southampton shall [...] be separate administrative Counties. This would seem to indicate that the county corresponds exactly to the geographical Isle of Wight. Zacwill (talk) 16:52, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

It confirms that Wight was split from Hampshire, but it's not specific on the status of the Solent. It's possible it was within Hampshire it when the county included Wight, and that it was split between them.

I'm having some trouble finding where Hampshire is constituted in the Local Government Act 1888, although most of the Act has been repealed or amended so it may not even matter.

I've said above in a reply to Murgatroyd49 that I'm tending toward Merseyside/Flintshire and Kent/Essex sharing a boundary but Hampshire/Wight not, based on the maps, but it would be good to know what those maps are themselves based on. A.D.Hope (talk) 17:06, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

Some links from MapIt UK. The maps are zoomable and pannable:

• Hampshire County Council
• Isle of Wight Council
• Portsmouth City Council
• Southampton City Council

From these, it can be seen that there is a boundary in the middle of Southampton Water, and that most of the tidal water in Portsmouth Harbour is within Portsmouth; but that neither Spithead nor the Solent are within any of these authorities. Also, shoreline boundaries are at low water mark, not high water mark. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 17:42, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

Oh that's good, thanks. I'm in no way claiming to have the final say over this, but unless anyone really wants to go digging into the legislation I think we've got ample sources to say that the Isle of Wight and Hampshire don't share a border as each ends at the low water mark on their respective side of the Solent. A.D.Hope (talk) 20:38, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

I agree and there is some further evidence for that in the remark from Andrew Turner MP in the House of Commons that Bramble Bank, a sandbank in the middle of the Solent, "is not in the city of Southampton or in any of the adjoining councils of New Forest, Eastleigh or Fareham. Neither is it in the area that is covered by Isle of Wight council." Chessrat ^{(talk, contributions)} 00:48, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

Based on that statement, here are some more MapIt UK links:

• Eastleigh Borough Council
• Fareham Borough Council
• Gosport Borough Council
• New Forest District Council

Gosport is there for completeness. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 16:50, 5 June 2026 (UTC)