This castle is noted in the publication Works of Preservation of Monuments of Rheinland-Pfalz, which was assembled and edited for the Ministry of Education and Culture.

During the 13th century, feudal tenants, who carried the name "von Berwartstein" inhabited the castle, which they used as a base for raids in the manner of robber barons.

The knights of Berwartstein were forced to sell their castle to the brothers Ort and Ulrich von Weingarten.

When he began feuding with the knights of Drachenfels, the Elector of the Palatinate took the opportunity to bring the Berwartstein Castle under his control.

To accomplish this, in 1480 he ordered the knight, Hans von Trotha, who was Marshal and Commander in Chief of the Palatinate forces, to try to control Berwartstein.

For the quarrelsome knight this was a pleasure to fulfil, since this gave him a chance to take personal revenge on the Abbot of Weissenburg.

Years before, Abbot Heinrich von Homburg had imposed a church fine on his brother, Bishop Thilo.

In the Peace of Westphalia (1648), Berwartstein received special mention, when it was granted to Baron Gerhard von Waldenburg, known as Schenkern, a favorite of Emperor Ferdinand III.

This enabled the entrance to be defended by just one man who was supplied with boiling sap, oil or liquid to pour on any intruder attempting to ascend the shaft.

Carved out of the cliff and accessible even today are corridors and passageways which used to be part of the large underground defence network.

This tower was part of an outwork or small subsidiary castle built by the well known knight and castellan of the Berwartstein, Hans von Trotha.

The open ground in the valley below between the tower and castle still bears the name Leichenfeld ("Corpse Field"), a reference to the battles fought here.