Rye Harbour Image Library

Picture No:	496
Courtesy of:	Geoff Pope
Year:	1949

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Johnny The Ferryman

Johnny Doughty, the friendly ferryman and famous folk singer who operated the Rye Harbour ferry, pictured with the Pope brothers and sister - left to right Michael, Roger and Christine.
Picture Added on 09 February 2022.

Comments

I remember uncle Johnny very well. During my teens I frequented the Inkerman Arms Pub. This was a time when people smoked in pubs and there were only outside toilets. Today you won’t even see an ashtray inside a pub. John Courage bitter was the drink of choice and I belonged to the darts team and every Friday evening we travelled to another pub in the darts league.

There was one notable character who always seemed to be in the pub. Johnny Doughty (Uncle Johnny) was a fisherman and also operated the ferry at Rye Harbour. He used to drink pint after pint all evening and never had a pee – but he had an enormous stomach. In later life he became famous as a folk singer. Much later I saw him for the last time on the Fish Market Quay in Rye - mending fishing nets. He died in September 1986 at the age of 83.

The Inkerman arms is now shut leaving just one pub in Rye Harbour - the William the Conqueror.

Added by Chris Coleman on 10 February 2022.

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Rye Harbour