‘Very rare’ clay figurine of Mercury discovered at Roman site in Kent

Previously unknown settlement in Small Hythe was once an important infrastructure link

A “very rare” clay figurine of the god Mercury, one of fewer than 10 ever found in Britain, has been discovered at a previously unknown Roman settlement that once sat next to a busy port – but is now 10 miles from the sea.

The site of the settlement, in the modern hamlet of Small Hythe (or Smallhythe), near Tenterden in Kent, now sits among fields, but was once an important link in the Roman empire’s import and infrastructure network in southern England and the Channel.