A whale skeleton could be looming over visitors in the entrance of a Cumbrian museum by the summer - thanks to a £20,000 grant.

Three years after the whale was found washed up on Drigg beach in west Cumbria, it will begin its new life suspended at Tullie House in Carlisle for thousands of visitors to see.

The 45ft skeleton has been touted as Cumbria's version of Dippy the Dinosaur - the Diplodocus skeleton that has greeted visitors at London's Natural History Museum.

Dr Simon Jackson, curator of natural sciences at Tullie House, is excited to see the skeleton - named Drigg - on display.

He said: “We're hoping it will be a major museum centrepiece.”

Tullie House won a campaign to keep the whale, which is thought to be a juvenile Sei whale.

These whales can be found off the coast of Northern Ireland or the west coast of Scotland but very rarely around Cumbria's coast.

The whale was named after the beach where it was found last summer after the public were asked to suggest names.

Drigg's bones were buried in raised beds full of sand and compost while the remaining flesh decomposed.

They were dug up last April and the cleaning process began.

Initially Dr Jackson and a group of volunteers removed sand and compost off the bones using hose pipes and brushes.

Tullie House then received a £19,935 grant from Arts Council England towards the conservation and installation of the whale.

The grant was enough to cover the final cleaning of the whale and its exhibition.

Drigg is now with Nigel Larkin, a freelance conservator specialist based in Shropshire.

Mr Larkin will dry the bones and get rid of any oils deep in the bones and any remaining grit.

He will then put the skeleton together and bring it back to the museum in late May.

Dr Jackson said:“Overall the bones are in very good condition. One challenge is that he's a very young animal.”

Because Drigg is a juvenile, the end of his bones had not fused together which makes it harder to put the puzzle of his skeleton together.

To make the puzzle even harder, between a quarter and a third of the bones are thought to be missing because they decomposed or were separated from the whale while it was at sea.

When Mr Larkin has put Drigg back together, he will be suspended in the atrium of Tullie House for all to see.

“It will be a combination of all the hard work and effort that's gone into it,” said Dr Jackson.