THE face of a man murdered 1,700 years ago in Cumbria has been reconstructed for a museum exhibition.

The skull, which had a hole caused by a weapon, was discovered during building work at The Lanes shopping centre, in Carlisle.

The city's Tullie House museum was awarded funding from the Local Heritage Initiative to reconstruct his face and went on display on Wednesday.

Exhibition curator Tim Padley said: "The poor man - named Duncan by the excavators - must have been killed unlawfully as the skull has a small entry and large exit would visible, probably cause by a weapon of some kind and there were the remains of facial injuries.

"Also he was found buried inside the city. All lawful burial had to take place outside the city or the magistrates who allowed it as well as the family of the deceased would face a hefty fine."

The museum decided they wanted to know what 'Duncan' looked like and also wanted a replica of the skull to display in the museum and turned to specialists at Manchester University.

Mr Padley said: "It was off to Manchester with a box containing the skull. We were glad we were not stopped by the police - it would have taken a bit of explaining to say we were taking a murder victim to Manchester to get his face rebuilt."

The exhibition runs until October 24.