This is a linear village arranged in a north-west to south-east alignment on the A67 road where it crosses the Motorway A1, 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the edge of Darlington.

The underlying geology is glacial clay with areas of gravel, sand, peat and alluvium, and outcrops of dolomite and carboniferous limestone.

[1] Gravel extraction south of the village in the fields bordering the river Tees occurred in the early 20th century.

[7] After the Merrybent railway was abandoned, the road plan was associated with the Darlington bypass as a motorway in 1949, and was moved eastwards onto the old trackway in 1950.

[7] Because the road followed the rail trackway, the only property affected on this part of the A1, apart from the station house at Barton, was the glasshouses at Merrybent Nurseries.

There were 56 glasshouses owned by the Co-operative Society; the girls grew tomatoes, controlled the rats, and were billeted in Darlington.

[10] A strategic greenfield building site was identified on fields at the south-east of Merrybent by Darlington Borough Council in 2009.