A Roman ear cleaner and tweezers up to 2,000 years old are among artefacts found at the site of the new Ebbsfleet Garden City bridge.

A number of artefacts thought to date back 2,000 years have been discovered at the new Springhead Bridge which is being built in Ebbsfleet Garden City near Dartford.

The bridge is nearing completion and is set to open to the public in Spring, spanning the River Ebbsfleet and linking Springhead Park to Ebbsfleet International.

Among the items found include a Roman ear cleaner, pottery discovered in various locations, with fragments identified as Saxon origin, and 2,000-year-old tweezers shaped exactly the same as modern-day tweezers.

The ear cleaner, like a cotton bud but made entirely of metal, was discovered during the excavation of a drainage trench on the south side of the River Ebbsfleet, thought to date back 1,6000 to 2,000 years.

All the artefacts found at the construction site have been removed for examination and documentation, with archaeologists working at the site full-time.

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Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, which is building the bridge, has also commissioned specialists to preserve a piece of timber likely used in construction 2,000 years ago in wax.

Julia Gregory, director of projects with Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, said: “Ebbsfleet Garden City and the surrounding area has a fascinating history and while the work goes on to document the items found, it would be lovely to find them a permanent home here in the Garden City at some point in the future.”

Ebbsfleet Development Corporation were set up by the Government to speed up the delivery of up to 15,000 homes and "create a 21st century Garden City in north Kent.

Ebbsfleet Garden City now has more than 1,800 homes with almost 5,000 residents, a primary school and plans for two more, and a major secondary school campus underway.

It's first supermarket opened this yes, as well as a pub and hotel in 2017 with more due to go in front of planners this December.