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The longest rivers of Scotland

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As of today's date the List of rivers of Scotland has unsourced data which is copied into Template:River Clyde.

I looked at various stats and unsurprisingly there are differences in measurement, as acknowledged here and there in the Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland, which does not provide a comprehensive listing.

  • "Source 1" is the existing unsourced list.
  • "Source 2" is the Gazetteer for Scotland (2016) which is supported by the School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh and The Royal Scottish Geographical Society
  • "Source 3" is Almanac of Scotland which states "All measurements have been recalculated using data supplied by the Scottish Environmental Prptection Agency (SEPA) and ordnance survey maps as published in August 2010. Data obtained from this page prior to September 2010 is obsolete and should not be used." It is not clear who the author(s) are.

All the below are in km.

River Source 1 Length Source 2 Length Source 3 Detail Source 3 Length
River Tay 188 191 TAY-TUMMEL-GAUR 184.9
River Clyde 176 170 Clyde 168.4
River Spey 172 160 Spey 168.6
River Tweed 156 155 Tweed 161.8
River Dee 137 154 Dee 142.7
River Don 132 131 Don 134.9
River Nith 112 112 Nith 100.8
River Findhorn 101 99 Findhorn 103.2
River Deveron 98 98 Deveron 100.2
River Annan 79 78 Annan 78.3
River Forth 105 63 Forth 135.7
River Ness Not included 10 NESS-OICH-GARRY 108.9
River Beauly Not included 26 BEAULY-GLASS-AFFRIC 93.4
River Conon Not included 19 Conon 88.3
River Dee, Galloway Not included 19 DEE-KEN-WATER OF DEUCH 88.0
River Lochy Not included No data Lochy-Spean 86.9
River South Esk, Angus Not included 79 South Esk 84.8

Complications: Source 3 notes for the Forth that measurement is to the "Firth of Forth at the easternmost point of Inch Garvie by the Forth Bridge" whereas Source 2 stops at the tidal waters near Stirling. Our article states that the river is 47km long but provides no source.

Part of the Tweed is in England, which source 3 notes but all seem to ignore for measurement purposes.

It is clear that Source 2 is not using 'from source to sea' measurements, but rather the length of the river that is called 'River x' e.g. "the Beauly River is formed by the meeting of the River Glass and the River Farrar at Struy" and ignores any upstream length. Source 3 however is explicitly from source to sea (and in the case of the Forth perhaps a bit more besides).

Lists:

  • All agree that the Tay is longest.
  • Source 2 has the Clyde as second longest and the Spey third, but Source 3 reveres the order.
  • All agree the Tweed is 4th and the northern Dee 5th but then things get complicated with different orders depending on where the Forth lies, and the inclusion or otherwise of the Highland rivers and southern Dee provided by source 3.

Luckily Source 3 provides fairly detailed notes which help explain some matters such as the Forth/Tay comparison used. It also explains some Source 2 anomalies e.g. why have the Beauly exclude upstream tributaries but not e.g. the Findhorn, which name is not that of its headwater streams? It's a bit of a mess. To be posted at Talk:List of rivers of Scotland soon. Ben MacDui 17:00, 9 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Possible solution

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Use Source 3, which is comprehensive and has the advantage of detailed notes that can be checked if necessary, with the exceptions identified below and indicating both river length and river + estuary length. I have also rounded up/down the fractions. The table would need an explanatory note as drafted.

Various measurements are provided for the lengths of Scottish rivers. The table below distinguished between the river alone and the river plus tidal waters, which many sources use. In all cases the distance is for the longest distance through the catchment area not just the distance of that portion of it which the named river covers excluding upstream tributaries.

River River Length[1] River + Estuary Length[1] Notes[1]
River Tay 155 185 The Tay-Tummel-Gaur from its source, Coirean Lochan by Stob Ghabhar, to a line from Budden Ness to Tentsmuir Point.
River Spey 168.6 168.6 The Spey is the longest stretch of river in Scotland bearing the same name throughout, though that does include Loch Insh.
River Clyde 158 168.4 The river length is measured to Dumbarton Rock, the estuary to the Firth of Clyde at Ardmore Point.
River Tweed 162 162 The lower reaches of the Tweed are in England.
River Dee, Aberdeenshire 143 143
River Forth 113 136 The river is measured to the Kincardine Bridge, the estuary to easternmost point of Inchgarvie by the Forth Bridge.
River Don 135 135
River Ness 109 109 The Ness-Oich-Garry. No account is taken of the Inverness Firth.
River Findhorn 103 103
River Nith 101 101 At low tide, the sea recedes to such an extent that the length of the river is extended by 13 kilometres (8.1 mi).
River Deveron 100 100
River Beauly 82 94 The Beauly-Glass-Affric with the estuary measured to the Kessock Bridge.
River Dee, Galloway 88 88 The Dee-Ken-Water of Deuch. At low tide, the length is extended by 2.9km.
River Conon 70 88 The estuary is measured to Invergordon Harbour/ Newhall Point.
River Lochy 87 87 The Lochy-Spean to Loch Linnhe at mouth of the River Nevis.
River South Esk, Angus 85 85
River Annan 78 78
  1. ^ a b c Almanac of Scotland Retrieved 9 June 2018 unless otherwise stated