Urris Hill

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A relatively short walk to Urris from the beach car park at Leenan to find the memorial at the site where a Wellington bomber crashed in 1941.. It was a sunny, but bitterly cold day. Perfect for a wee dander. I hadn't realised that there is a walking trail here before. There is actually a path from the military museum at Fort Dunree all the way to Leenan. A little section of a coastal path for Ireland.

The trails do not go right up to the site. We went down into one little glen and stopped for a snack on the next rise. We thought the site was just past the next small glen. Fortunately Brendan explored around our picnic spot. Looking over the ridge and down towards the ocean he spotted the memorial about 200m from where we were. A fortunate discovery, it saved us a 30 minute walk in the wrong direction.

The memorial consists of rusty wheel struts from the undercarriage, a simple cross and a black marble plaque bearing the names of the crew who all perished in April 1941.

It was tragic. Had the plane been 100 feet higher they would have cleared the ridge.

After a bit of a scamble down the slope, we returned to the car by the lower path.

If you search for "crash of Wellington W5653" you can find the story of the incident online.

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