Towards Langenbach were once the villages of Ober- and Niederopritz, which used to belong to Stein Castle, but were probably destroyed during the Hussite Wars.
Construction of the castle was probably started around 1200 on a rock made of hornblende right on the southern banks of the Mulde.
This oldest part of the site form the upper ward (Oberburg) today, consisting of a round bergfried, a palas, with its great hall, and defensive walls.
The fortifications probably also served as an outer ward of Hartenstein Castle which had not at that time been converted into a stately residence or schloss.
There used to be a ford by the castle and, later, a ferry as well as various wooden and stone bridges, some of which, in old drawings, are portrayed as covered.
The predecessor of the old Stein Castle is located on the steep northern banks of the Zwickauer Mulde above the station.
Northwest of the castle lies the remains of another very clearly visible fortification with a round mound (diameter ca.
In 1233 the castle was mentioned in the records for the first time: like the entire County of Hartenstein it came under the suzerainty of the burgraves of Meissen.
The castle was owned by the aristocratic family of the Princes of Schönburg until their estate was confiscated in 1945 as part of the socialist land reform in East Germany.
The barony contained the following villages: In 1740 the House of Wettin agreed a recess with the lords of Schönburg, by which the Schönburgs had to recognise the suzerainty of the Saxon royal house over the hitherto imperially immediate baronies of Waldenburg, Glauchau, Lichtenstein, Hartenstein (the lesser county) and Stein.
The Barony of Stein and the lesser County of Hartenstein (without the district of Lößnitz) went to the Amtshauptmannschaft of Zwickau.