Regarding the most southerly point of Scotland.
There is no evidence that Gallie Craig, Mull of Galloway is the most southerly point of Scotland.
Evidence that Carrick-kee, Mull of Galloway is the most southerly point of Scotland:
Dr Douglas E Wilcox an expert kayker, wrote the following on 10/01/2012:
"I have passed within 1m of both on 5 separate occasions. I use a Garmin GPS Map76CSX in WAAS/EGNOS enabled mode without the battery saver mode. This gives the most accurate readings. You can lose GPS signals in Scotland if you are on the north side of cliffs but you get a clear sky all the way round the Mull of Galloway. 3 times I have gone round at high water and 2 times at low water.
WGS84 on each of the 5 trips are:
Carrick-kee Gallie Craig
N54 37 59.7
N54 38 00.2
N54 37 59.7
N54 38 00.2
N54 37 59.7
N54 38 00.1
N54]] 37 59.7
N54 38 00.2
N54]] 37 59.7
N54 38 00.2".
The difference in latitude between precisely WGS84 54° 38’ 00.1” N and precisely WGS84 54° 37’ 59.7” N is 12.369 metres. Furthermore the difference in latitude between precisely WGS84 54° 38’ 00.2” N and precisely WGS84 54° 37’ 59.7” N is 15.461 metres. Though using these latitudes there is a possible very minimum difference in latitude of 9.286 metres, and a very maximum of 18.553 metres.
In WGS84 degrees-minutes-seconds a handheld GPSr at these latitudes, in latitude, only has a precision of 3.092 metres.
Dr Douglas E Wilcox blog:
http://seakayakphoto.blogspot.co.uk/Personally researched:
Promap mapping "working closely with" "the Ordnance Survey", Aerial View shows Carrick-kee in latitude, to be about 20 metres further south than Gallie Craig.
Centremapslive "a Premier Partner of Ordnance Survey", Aerial View shows Carrick-kee in latitude, to be about 19 metres further south than Gallie Craig.
TerraServer (satellite imagery) shows Carrick-kee in latitude, to be about 19 metres further south than Gallie Craig.
Google Earth (satellite imagery) shows Carrick-kee in latitude, to be about 18 metres further south than Gallie Craig.
Flash Earth (satellite imagery) shows Carrick-kee in latitude, to be about 18 metres further south than Gallie Craig.
Extract from an email sent to me from Ordnance Survey 29/01/2015:
"Dear Thomas
I have now received a response from our Geodetic Team regarding Scotland southernmost point.
Looking at an OS MasterMap extract we calculate:
Carrick-kee: 214541mE 530254mN
Gallie Craig: 214924mE 530252mN
So based on OSGB36 coordinates alone Gallie Craig initially appears to be the most southern, however (and as pointed out by Mr Murray)…
When transformed to our Geodetic coordinate system ETRS89 we get the following:
Carrick-kee: 54° 37’ 59”.686969 N 4° 52’ 29”.593279 W
Gallie Craig: 54° 38’ 00”.129340 N 4° 52’ 08”.256733 W
Therefore, based on Ordnance Survey mapping, the most southerly point of Scotland is indeed Carrick-kee, Mull of Galloway.
I hope the information above answers your enquiries and thank you for contacting Ordnance Survey.
Kind regards
Lesley
Lesley Flood
Customer Service Adviser
Customer Services, Ordnance Survey
Adanac Drive, SOUTHAMPTON,
SO16 0AS
Phone: 03456 050505 | Fax: +44 (0) 345 0990494
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/ | CustomerServices@ordnancesurvey.co.uk".
According to the 1:2500 map results from Ordnance Survey:
Using the OSGB36 latitudes-longitudes, converted from the grid references, with Airy 1830 ellipsoid, Carrick-kee Mean High Water Springs (OSGB36 54° 37’ 59.346600” N, 4° 52’ 25.477012” W) is in latitude 13.650228402 metres further south than Gallie Craig MHWS (OSGB36 54° 37’ 59.788090” N, 4° 52’ 04.137280” W).
Furthermore using the ETRS89 latitudes-longitudes, with WGS84 ellipsoid, Carrick-kee MHWS, is in latitude 13.678696452 metres further south than Gallie Craig MHWS.
The distance between the Carrick-kee most southerly point MHWS, and Gallie Craig most southerly point MHWS is 383 metres.
Incidentally Carrick-kee, Mull of Galloway, most southerly point MHWS, is in latitude, about 8.256 kilometres or 5.130 international miles further north, than the most southerly point of Denmark, Scandinavia, and the Nordic countries[1].
1. Officially at ETRS89 54° 33’ 32.7” N, sent to me from the National Survey and Cadastre of Denmark.
The latitudes of the Mull of Galloway, passes due east through in England: Cumbria; Workington, Bassenthwaite Lake, Sockbridge and Tirril, Clifton. County Durham; Shildon, Newton Aycliffe.
Carrick-kee, Mull of Galloway is further south than the small village of Holwick, County Durham that lies within the historic county boundaries of the North Riding of Yorkshire,
Northern Ireland due west: County Down; Donaghadee, Hollywood. Belfast. County Tyrone; Cookstown.
Republic of Ireland: County Donegal, Killybegs.
Contact me: tom.murray58ATgmail.com