A COMPANY making marine instruments has set up its new headquarters in Witney - about as far away from the sea as possible.

TSS was set up 20 years ago by Philip Goymour at his home at Horley, during a spell working as an electronics engineer on marine surveys.

Mr Horley, who is now company chairman, said: "I was working on surveys in the North Sea and I realised there was a lot of old- fashioned equipment and thought there was an opportunity in that market."

TSS designs and manufactures position and orientation equipment and motion sensors for ships keeping checks on a network of sub-sea cables.

The company slowly grew and moved from various sites, including Banbury and Bicester, before settling in Weston-on-the-Green in 1990.

The search for a new site ended in a move into the almost derelict New Mill, a former blanket mill which sits astride the river Windrush at Crawley, near Witney. After 18 months of refurbishment, supervised by Mr Goymour's wife Tanya, who is a company director, the 43 employees are now enjoying their new offices in the peaceful riverside surroundings.

There are records of a mill on the site since Domesday, but it became know as New Mill after it was burnt down and rebuilt in 1867 when it was converted from water to steam power.

The architects for the scheme are London-based Ash Sakula and the south wing and courtyard cottage are being marketed through Oxford based Lambert Smith Hampton.

The company also has offices in Aberdeen and Houston and in 1993 won the Queen's Award for Export Achievement.

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