St Agnes is on the north coast of Cornwall, about twenty miles up from St Ives (or ten miles as the seagull flies). It is the source of St Agnes clay, long used for body on its own or mixed with other clays.

The St Agnes Pottery is run by John Vasey who was born in 1941 in Salford Lancashire. John had no formal training in ceramics, learning the skills by working in various commercial potteries around the country.

In the early 1970s he settled in Cornwall and set up his own pottery in Fowey on the south coast where eastbound users of the coast road, the A3082, have to take the ferry to Rodinnick and all points beyond. He then took over Grigg's Forge at Lelant, which had previously been a blacksmith's shop, and converted it to a pottery.

John bought the existing pottery at St Agnes, which was then called Wayside Pottery, when its owners decided to emigrate. It is said that Wayside Pottery was the birthplace of Arthur Homer's Reverberating Furnace - a patent design of gas or oil kiln, but this may be apocryphal. He worked for some time from the original premises, which now belong to the National Trust, and then moved to Vicarage Road, the main street of St Agnes, where he can still be found.

Most of his work is sold from the pottery shop, but his work can also be bought at the Craft Centre at Trelowarren near Helston.