The complex was probably built as a castle in the 12th century and was first mentioned in 1222 together with the Heuchlinger mill as a noble castle seat. Early lords of the castle were the lords of Huchelheim. Later, the castle was divided among several owners, including the imperial monastery of Ellwangen early on and, around 1290, the Lords of Goltstein, whose shares passed to the Greck von Kochendorf in the 14th century. In 1449, the castle was burned down by Wimpfen citizens in the so-called "Town War". In 1484 the Teutonic Order acquired the bailiwick of six surrounding villages and a little later also parts of the castle, which was renovated by the Order and became the seat of a Teutonic Order office responsible for the surrounding villages. During the Peasants' War in 1525, Heuchlingen Castle was destroyed once again. Under the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Walther von Cronberg the reconstruction in Renaissance style took place from 1530. As in other places, the construction work was carried out by the subjects who were in bonded labor. The castle received its present Baroque appearance through various reconstruction measures in the late 18th century under the Teutonic Order Master Karl Alexander of Lorraine, whose coat of arms is emblazoned on the castle wall, and the master builders Georg Philipp Wenger (1701-1763) and Johann Hornstein (1740-1818). The oldest records of the structural form of the complex, which was so dilapidated at the time that Wenger's first plans practically envisaged a completely new building, come from Wenger's building survey, which was made as early as around 1750. Wenger submitted several changes to the plan, but construction had not yet begun in 1761, so the planning and execution of the present facility is largely the work of Wenger's associate Hornstein. After the dissolution of the Teutonic Order, the estate fell to the Kingdom of Württemberg as a state domain, which used the complex as a cameral office and barracks, among other things. Since about 1900, the property has been leased to Südzucker AG or its predecessor as an agricultural farm; until 1994, employee housing existed there; since 2002, some renovated areas in the residential buildings have been subleased as offices and apartments. In 1954, a part of the domain (20 ha) was assigned to the State Teaching and Research Institute for Viticulture and Fruit Growing in Weinsberg, which established a fruit-growing experimental farm of today's size of 34 ha there. The facility is normally not accessible and can be visited only occasionally on special occasions such as the Open Monument Day