The manor is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086-7 as Bichetone, when it was held in-chief from the king and in demesne by Gerald the Chaplain, who had two other holdings in Devon, namely Scapelie, possibly "Shapleigh" in South Tawton Hundred^[1] and Nistenesoch, i.e. St Nectan's Stoke,^[2] or Stoke St Nectan, generally known today as Stoke, Hartland.^[3][4]

===Dynham===

At some time before the 12th. century the manors of Bickington and Stoke, with several others, were acquired by the Dynham^[5] family, from Dinant in Brittany, founders of Hartland Abbey.

===Prust===

Hugh Prust, Esquire, (d.1559) of Thorry, near Hartland (alias Thorvey, etc.), had leased the manor of Bykyngton from Hartland Abbey for 40 years paying £12 per annum rent^[7] and at his death in 1559, after the dissolution of the Abbey in 1539, the lease was held by his heirs. The Prust family were settled at "Gorven" from at the latest 1199, a deed of which date is recorded in the Heraldic Visitations of Devon as mentioning John Prust of Gorven.^[8] Hugh Prust (d.1559) was the second son of John Prust of Thorry by his wife Agnes. Thorry had been held by an un-named tenant in 1299 from the Abbot of Hartland for the rent of 1 lb of pepper, due annually at Michaelmas.^[9] It was still held in 1566 (from overlord unknown) at the same rent, by the "heirs of Hugh Prust", i.e. the Pollards.^[10] In 1530 Hugh Prust gave to St Nectan's Church, Hartland, the set of surviving bench-ends showing his initials "H P" each in its own shield.^[11] Hugh Prust was one of the largest tenants of the lands of Hartland Abbey as revealed by the Valor Ecclesiasticus made in 1535 preparatory to its dissolution. Hugh Prust was described in a contemporary document as "a man of great wealth and of fair land and living"^[12] and had a private chapel at Thorry served by the cleric John Horwell (d.1553), the prior of Hartland Abbey before its dissolution in 1539, who also served as mass-priest in St Mary's Guild, at the sole expense of Hugh Prust.^[13] Hugh Prust's other lands held from Hartland Abbey in 1566 were:^[14] the whole of: Friar's Hill, Holepark, Thorry and Wembsworthy; part of Elmscott, Hardisworthy, Pitt and Higher Velly. In addition the widow Katherine Prust (possibly the widow of Hugh Prust or of his brother Richard Prust (d.1550) of Wollesworthy^[15]) held possibly as her dower: part of Fursdon and Natcott.

===Pollard===	

Sir Lewis II Pollard (d.pre-1569), of King's Nympton, serjeant-at-law and Recorder of Exeter, married Joan Prust, daughter and sole heiress of Hugh Prust, Esquire, (d.1559) of Thorry, who had acquired a 40 year lease of Abbots Bickington from Hartland Abbey before the Dissolution. This lease was apparently converted into a freehold at some later time as it passed by inheritance into the Pollard family. Sir Lewis II Pollard's great-grandson Sir Amyas Pollard, 3rd Baronet (1616-1701) was the heir of his elder brother Sir Hugh Pollard, 2nd Baronet (d.1666), who had died leaving large debts, and Sir Amyas was thus obliged to sell the old family seat of King's Nympton to meet some of the debts, and made Court Barton, Abbots Bickington, his new seat. The last of the Pollards to hold the manor was Thomas Pollard (1681-1710), Sir Amias's illegitimate son.

====Ledger stone of Sir Amyas Pollard====

The ledger stone of Sir Amyas Pollard (1616-1701), 3rd Baronet, survives before the altar in Abbots Bickington Church, Devon, inscribed as follows: "To the memory of Sr. Ames Pollard, Barron(e)t, who departed this life June the 5th 1701 and was here interr'd the 7th of the same in ye 85th year of his age". Below is an heraldic achievement of Pollard showing an escutcheon of the Pollard arms: Quarterly 1st & 4th, a chevron between three escallops; 2nd & 3rd: a chevron between three mullets; overall the Red Hand of Ulster. Above the escutcheon is the crest of Pollard: A leopard's head and neck erased. Beneath is the following verse:

If birth & parentage be an ornament,

His may be rank'd w(i)th those of best descent

If constant stedfast loyallty be a praise,

His was unshaken in the worst of dayes,

Who durst the King & royall cause still own,

In times when doing it was so dangerous known,

If love to friends to neighb(ou)rs & to peace,

When constituted justice may increase,

And raise his charact(e)r all this lets us see,

How much we lost in being depriv'd of thee.

===Mural monument to Thomas Pollard====

A newly re-painted mural monument exists to Thomas Pollard (1681-1710), in Abbots Bickington Church. On a rectangular panel with arched top between two Corinthian columns and below a broken classical pediment is the following inscription: Here under lyes ye body of Tho: Pollard ye son of Sr. Ames Pollard Bart. who departed this life Decem(be)r ye 9th 1710 ye 29th year of his age. He had to wife Sarah ye daughter of Jonathan Prideaux of Thu(borough) Esqr. who by ye order of her dear deceas'd husband hath set up this monument in remembrance of him & doth desire to be laid here her selfe when it doth please God to take her hence. Above on either side is an angel holding an escutcheon, on the dexter one of which has recently been re-painted the escallop arms of Pollard. On top between the two angels was formerly a shield showing the quarterings as sculpted in relief on the ledger stone of his father before the altar in the same church. Below the base in the centre is the head and shoulders of a winged putto on a garland of flowers with a skull on each side beneath the columns.

===Rolle===	

The manor was later acquired by the Rolle family of Stevenstone, near Great Torrington, which in the person of Hon. Mark Rolle (1835–1907) was the largest landowner in Devon as revealed by the Return of Owners of Land in 1873. Rolle rebuilt Court Barton farm as a model farm in 1878, as is evidenced by a date-stone over the entrance to a stone barn bearing the inscription "M.R. 1878".