Four friends have restored an iconic 100ft landmark on an Isle of Man hillside back to its former glory.

The Three Legs of Mann artwork on the face of North Barrule is once again visible for miles around after it was repainted in a shade of shiny white.

There was anger when an anonymous person posted on online to say they had painted the stones of the triskelion from white to a ‘natural colour’ which effectively made the landmark disappear from distance.

Local builder Bryan Callister created the 30m diameter ’art installation’ in 2019 using stones.

He followed it up with a planning application to paint it white, then withdrew the application but went ahead anyway, prompting a number of objections.

After learning that the iconic legs had been painted, Mr Callister said he was ‘gutted’ after watching the artwork disappear from view.

On Saturday afternoon, four friends - Jacob Kelly, Paddy O’Neil, Jake Mayers and Nic Tinnion - headed up to the spot where the landmark sits.

Each carried two extra-large tins of white paint on their backs during the journey.

Once at the site, they spent around four hours painting the rocks a shade of white - literally leaving no stone unturned in their quest to restore the 100ft landmark.

Jake said the group are all friends through their shared hobby of off-roading and take pride in the Manx countryside.

The painting project was suggested by Paddy on the spur of the moment on Friday and the rest of the pals followed suit.

Jake said: ‘To me it’s a landmark and it’s not someone else’s work to change.

‘It’s Brian’s artwork and someone has vandalised it.

‘Brian isn’t able to get up and down there now, so who else is it up to?

‘If they [the people who painted the stones a ‘natural colour’] don’t like the Three Legs of Mann, there’s a boat in the morning and I’ll even pay their boat fare - as long as it’s a one way ticket!’

The group have been roundly praised by a number of people on social media with many saying ‘well done’ ‘good job’ and ‘thank you’. Last weekend, a mysterious email was sent to Media Isle of Man which read: ‘North Barrule’s Three Legs of Mann has been returned to a natural stone colour. Old rope and rusting metal rods left behind after its creation have also been removed.

‘This was an effort to return the view to nature, but if we’d like to paint the lily, there is always Manx democracy to help us decide the colour.’

Mr Callister told Media Isle of Man he has not been back up to the artwork since creating it but is disappointed to see it go.

He said: ‘I am gutted to see it go. You can’t imagine what I went through and then all that work just disappears.’

But now Bryan can view his work once more from his home near Ramsey.