One of Rye’s lost pubs was the Ferry Boat Inn in Ferry Road which opened in about 1832. This was the second Ferry Boat Inn in Rye. The first one, location unknown, dated from at least 1709. The second Ferry Boat Inn became the New Inn in 1899 but reverted back to its original name in the 1960s. It was popular with the employees of Rye Pottery, now also closed. 
In the 19th century the Ferry Boat Inn often came to the attention of the local magistrates. In 1865 it came into the news when a young woman was charged with stealing a man’s cap whilst he was playing dominoes. Other customers in the games room were playing “Kick up Jenny”, a game of which the magistrate had never heard.
At his request the game was described to the court by one of the players as “a miniature kind of nine pins where instead of throwing a ball at the pins or skittles you swing a lead ball suspended from the ceiling on a thin rope”. The court was assured that ‘Kick up Jenny’ was a game of skill and not a form of gambling.
According to the English Heritage publication, Played at the Pub, a very similar game, or perhaps the same game, known as “Devil Among the Tailors”, was common in other parts of the country at this time. A small wooden ball, the “devil”, was tethered by a light chain or cord to a swivel at the top of a pole. The ball was thrown by the player around the pole to clatter among the nine small pins, known as the “tailors”, which were set up in a diamond formation. Kick up Jenny seems to have been the Rye version.
Since 1991 this lost pub has been a private residence.
The Pubs of Rye, 1750-1950 by David Russell is available from The Rye Bookshop, 25 High Street, the Heritage Centre, Strand Quay; Adams, 9 High Street; or online. Other books by David Russell are The Pubs of Hastings & St Leonards, The Pubs of Lewes, The Swan, Hastings and Register of Licensees for Hastings & St Leonards.