SIX giant eyes gazing down on visitors to Blenheim Palace, in Woodstock, have been unveiled after five months of intensive restoration.

The eyes, which measure up to 1.5m across, were first painted in 1928 for Gladys Deacon, the American-born second wife of the ninth Duke of Marlborough.

And in the 80 years since they were first put in place, this was the first time any major work had been done on bringing the panel of painted eyes back to their former glory.

Palace architect Nick Cox, who has been overseeing the work, said: "The north gate is the main front entrance to Blenheim.

"Over the last 80 years, they had deteriorated quite a lot, partially because of exposure to the weather and also water has got through the roof on occasion which has caused them to decay further."

An intensive and meticulous procedure has been followed to try and restore the painted eyes as faithfully as possible, first identifying the original paint used, then slowly building up thin layers of paint used while not obscuring any that had survived.

During the process, a team of ten specialists from Nimbus Conservation worked on the eyes and expert gilders from Campbell Smith used more than 6,000 sheets of 24-carat gold leaf to restore the gilded areas.

Mr Cox said: "It was a painstaking process, making sure every little scrap and fragment that had survived was still there and then repainting where all the paintwork had been lost."

He could not say exactly how much the restoration had cost - but said it was part of a £1m annual programme of repairs to the palace.

Three of the giant eyes are blue, and three brown, and were originally painted by artist Colin Gill.

It is thought that at least one pair of the eyes are those of the Duke and Duchess watching over the palace - Gladys Deacon was famed for her striking blue eyes and was said to have climbed the scaffold to give the artist a bright blue scarf to work from.

But the reason for them being painted remains a mystery as there is no written documentation about them.

Mr Cox said: "Every single visitor who walks in to the palace can now look up and will see these amazing eyes looking down on them instead of the rather eroded ones that were there before."