According to Hoskins the estate of Ruxford is recorded in a charter dated 930 in which a large estate was granted to the canons of Crediton Church. The existing farmhouse known as Ruxford Barton was rebuilt in 1608 by the Chichester family, as is evidenced by a strapwork cartouche in plaster-work displaying the arms of that family with initials and date 1608, in the principal bedroom on the first floor of the parlour wing. In 1618 Ruxford Barton was purchased from Sir Robert Chichester, Bart, KB, by Emmanuel Davie, a "clothier of Crediton", a cousin of the Davie family of Creedy, Sandford. The deed of conveyance is summarised as follows:  In about 1620 a plaster escutcheon was affixed inside the house showing the "de Via" arms of the Davie family impaled with the arms of Northcote, the arms of the family of his first wife Katherine Northcote (d.1620).