Bicton appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Bechetone, held by William Porter, probably by the service of guarding the gate at Exeter Castle and the prison there.

This included the digging of the lake in 1812 by French prisoners of war, planting the arboretum in 1830 and the noted araucaria avenue in 1842.

The mausoleum, which is not open to the public, contains Minton floor tiles, a vaulted ceiling, east and west decorated windows by Pugin, and a Rolle monument on the north wall designed by George Myers.

[8] Some fifty years before its demolition, the topographer John Swete made a watercolour painting of the old church, and wrote of its picturesque setting in his journal in 1795.

[9] The church of 1850 was designed by the Exeter-based architect, John Hayward: Hoskins simply called it "dull",[8] though it was later described as an early example in Devon of the ideals of the Cambridge Camden Society.

The landscaped park includes historic glasshouses, a countryside museum, the Bicton Woodland Railway train ride, nature trail, maze, mini golf, indoor and outdoor children's play complexes, restaurant and shop.

The Palm House was built in the 1820s to a curvilinear design, using 18,000 small glass panes in thin iron glazing bars.