York Historic Environment Record

The view of the River Ouse from Nether Poppleton’s Main Street is not exceptional. It does, however, hold historic and communal significance for the purpose the 'landing' that has severed through many phases of the history of the village.
The Vikings used this section of the Ouse to raid, settle and trade with the outlying settlements around York.
It is rumoured that in this vicinity, the shoreline pebbles were transferred to act as aggregate for the building of the Minster (with some saying it defines the name of the village itself: Pebble-ton).
During the Civil War, a pontoon bridge was constructed along this section of the river. It allowed Royalist cavalry to manoeuvre to join forces at the Battle of Marston Moor (1644).
In more recent times, it has acted as the location of a ferry (for centuries a ferry connected Poppleton with Overton on the other bank), a tea barge, and access to the river for ice skating during the 'Little Ice Age' of the nineteenth century.
As the bank is the site for Nether Poppleton's World War Memorial, the view out over the river frames this historic viewpoint.

York Civic Trust