The central keep is located on the edge of a steep rock cliff (521 m above sea level) that projects up from the valley floor.

The Eselsburg was built around 1200 as the home of the ministeriales or unfree knights of the Graf or Baron von Dillingen.

Then, in 1444 Rudolf von Bopfingen sold his half of the rights to the castle to Heinrich Krafft from Ulm.

Following a divestment of the property to the House of Württemberg in 1593 the castle was emptied and began to decay.

Of the High Middle Ages castle, only the ditch and a few fragments of the wall are visible today.

The angular trench is generally easy to follow, though the southern section is mostly filled in.