Renishaw plc (LSE: RSW) is an engineering company based in Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

The Company was founded by Sir David McMurtry and John Deer in 1973. McMurtry had needed to measure fuel pipes on a prototype jet engine: at the time, coordinate-measuring machine sensors featured rigid styli, which required manual positioning on the surface and which yielded poor repeatability when measuring delicate components. To meet this need, McMurtry invented a touch-trigger probe device, which he then patented. The probe featured an elegant 'kinematic' location for a spring-loaded stylus, providing a highly repeatable seated position for the stylus combined with the compliance needed to measure such components.

Renishaw was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1983.

In 2006 the Company bought 'itp', a German manufacturer of precision styli.

In early 2009 the global recession reached Renishaw, resulting in a large proportion of the workforce being placed "at risk".

Sir David Roberts McMurtry CBE (born 1940) is the founder of Renishaw plc, the United Kingdom's largest supplier of metrology equipment.

Brought up in Dublin and educated at Mountjoy School in Dublin, David McMurtry joined Bristol Aero Engines as an apprentice in 1958. In 1966, following an acquisition, he found himself employed by Rolls-Royce plc where he became Deputy Chief Designer and Assistant Chief of Engine Design at Filton. In 1973 while working on Concorde's engines he designed his first trigger probe. In 1979 he joined his former colleague John Deer to establish Renishaw plc. In 1987 he acquired the patents for his trigger probes from Rolls-Royce plc and began to exploit the patents himself.

In 1989 he became a Royal Designer for Industry.

He was awarded the CBE in 1994 and was knighted in the 2001 New Year Honours.

In 2008 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Engineering by the University of Bath and in 2011 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

He lives in a futuristic home at Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire.