A noble family called de Wehena was mentioned in documents in 1227 (and died out in 1518), the town of Wehen itself was first mentioned in 1285. It was granted town rights by Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian in 1323 and a town wall was built. Count Gerlach I of Nassau had the town fortified and a castle built around 1330 to secure his property, possibly based on an earlier tower castle of the local noble family. From 1346 (Nassau inheritance division) Wehen fell to Johann I of Nassau-Weilburg. From then on, the complex is documented as the court and administrative seat for the Wehener Grund (the area between Kirberg, Idstein, Bad Schwalbach and Wiesbaden). Extensive repair work was carried out between 1595 and 1611, and in 1630 the outbuildings were renewed and rebuilt and two archways were built. The fortifications were completely demolished. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the complex became the widow's residence of the Counts of Nassau-Weilburg: Countess Anna von Weilburg (1541–1616) (widow of Albrecht von Nassau-Weilburg) from 1593 to 1616 and her daughter-in-law Elisabeth von Weilburg (1579–1655), with interruptions due to military action during the Thirty Years' War from 1629 to 1655.
After the Thirty Years' War, it was rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries as a princely hunting lodge. In 1769, the castle was the official residence of the Wehen bailiff and justice councillor Carl Wilhelm Christian Ibell. In 1780, Karl von Ibell, who later became Nassau's government president, was born here. Twelve years later, the castle was the headquarters for Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, and in 1813 it was inhabited by General Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg. The district court remained in the castle until 1943. In 1967, the surrounding wall on Weiherstrasse was demolished and the old moat was finally leveled.
The castle is a listed building and has housed the Taunusstein Museum and the “Wirtshaus im Schloß” restaurant since 1995.