St Merryn () is a civil parish and village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is about south of the fishing port of Padstow and northeast of the coastal resort of Newquay. The village has a primary school, a veterinary practice, various shops, restaurants, and two public houses. The population at the 2011 census was 1,692. Geography The 3,798 acre parish of St Merryn is bounded by a millstream to the south that separates it from the St Ervan and St Eval parishes; more than of coastline along the Atlantic Ocean; and the Padstow parish and Lyn stream. The Seven Bays region of St Merryn includes (from west to east) Porthcothan Bay, Treyarnon Bay, Constantine Bay, Booby's Bay, Mother Ivey's Bay, Harlyn Bay and Trevone Bay. The nearest bay to St Merryn village centre is Harlyn Bay ( north). Interesting features include the seaside cliffs, like the Marble cliffs, Tregudda gorge, Trevose Head and the collapsed cave known as Round Hole. The North Cornwall Coastal Path follows the clifftops and crosses the Seven Bays. The B3276 is the largest road passing through the Seven Bays area. Toponymy There are two theories about the namesake of the parish of St Merryn. Visit Cornwall asserts that according to local historians the village and parish are named after a Welsh missionary priest named Merryn who came to St Merryn around 650 AD. It has also been proposed that Cornwall's St Merryn was a monk named Maruanus or Maruan. Which Merryn (or alternative spelling) this may be is debatable. Regarding Merryn son of Brychan, in his 1965 book series The Saints of Cornwall the scholar Gilbert Doble disputes assertions made by Charles G. Henderson that the Merryn in question may have been the "Marwenna found in William of Worcester's list of the Children of Brychan" The benefice of St Merryn was named Vicaria Sancte Marine (the vicarage of St Marina) in 1259. It continued to be listed in church records as a form of Saint Marina until 1477 when it was named Seynt Meryn. There are two churches in France named after a Saint Marina or Marinus: Lanmérin for a male saint and the former Paris church of St Marina on the Île de la Cité. Churches named after a Celtic saint Merin include those in Llanferin, Gwent; Bodferin, Wales; and Plomelin, Brittany. Doble states that by the Middle Ages, the earlier Celtic