The castle is first recorded in a document dated 6 January 1213 that states the Isenburgs had flouted the rights of Laach Abbey.

In 1557 the younger Salentine line of Isenburg counts lived here and reinforced the fortifications with artillery bastions in the north and a roundel on the southern hillside.

In 1664, after the death of Count Ernest of Isenburg-Grenzau, the badly damaged castle went back into the ownership of the Electorate of Trier.

In 1925, the castle was bought by a government architect, Rudolph Arthur Zichner, from Wiesbaden and made available for the Nerother Wandervogel - a youth group.

On the south side is an outwork (Bollwerk), built around 1540, with a round battery tower (Geschützturm) and two flanking walls (Flügelmauern), the whole separated from the enceinte by a neck ditch.