The castle with a triangular floor plan was delimited by a stone wall with three corner bastions. It was a tall triangular tower at the front, a smaller prismatic tower in the southwest and at the highest point stood the supposed tower-like residential building - the donjon. Later, a late Romanesque chapel with an emporium was added. In the 15th century, a new palace was added along the NE wall and a cistern in the courtyard. At the end of the Middle Ages, a brick forecourt was built and only then was the castle expanded by an extensive fortification. Access to the castle was provided by a bridge over the moat and the gate was protected by an oval cannon bastion. During further renaissance reconstructions of the castle, the late Gothic palace was increased, residential tracts were added, which lost the tower dominants and a height-balanced complex was created. The defensive capacity of the castle was increased by the defensive porch. The castle was a reliable refuge in times of Turkish danger, but it was destroyed by fire in the 18th century.In 1995, the cleaning of the castle began, later archaeological research was carried out, and gradually from the beginning of the 21st century, the statics and strengthening of the walls were provided. The original entrance to the castle by the bridge was restored, the cistern was cleaned, the farm building was completed and reconstructed, the palace was roofed, the collapsed vault in the palace was reconstructed and a huge piece of work was done there. Since 2015, the Uhrovec Castle Civic Association has been operating at the castle, and it still performs reconstruction work at the castle in an exceptional way and using original methods.

Uhrovec Castle was probably built sometime between 1251 and 1293 and was built by the Trenčín county Báš from the Hunt-Poznanov family. After his death, the castle and manor were inherited by his son Peter. In 1285, Matúš Čák obtained the castle from Petr by pressure and exchanged it for several worthless Tek villages. However, Matúš Čák did not become the owner, so the status did not take place, as was the custom. It happened only in 1295 in the presence of representatives of the Esztergom Chapter. The document of the Esztergom Chapter, where the castle is first mentioned, also comes from this year. Despite later complaints from Peter's son Mikuláš, Matúš Čák maintained the Uhrovec castle estate until his death in 1321, when the castle passed into the ownership of King Karol Róbert and remained in royal hands until 1389. At that time, King Sigismund of Luxembourg donated it to Stibor of Stiborice and his brothers, to whom the manor belonged until 1434. After the death of Stibor the Younger, the castle returned to King Sigismund, who disrespected Stibor's last will for his daughter Katarína to inherit the castle, and in 1435 he assigned the castle to his wife Barbora Celjská.

In 1439, the new King Albrecht of Habsburg confiscated all his property from Barbora and assigned it to his wife Elizabeth. Around 1440, Elizabeth handed over the castle to Pongrácz of St. Mikuláš to support the claims to the throne of her underage son Ladislav Pohrobek. In 1453, therefore, Ladislav V. Pohrobok granted him the castle in hiseditary possession. Pongrácz released the castle to his brother Ján. Many construction activities can be attributed to the Pongrácz family, especially increasing the castle's defenses. In 1477, however, Matej Korvín took the castle from the daughters of Ján Pongrácz and gave it in advance to Friedrich Tetauer of Tetov. However, after a while he stopped showing interest in the castle and in 1483 Ondrej Dánffy from Doboz, later Ondrej Kolár from Výčapov and from 1506 Vavrinec Salczer from Záblatia are mentioned as the owner of the castle.

During the conflict between the supporters of the Hungarian kings Ferdinand I of Habsburg and Ján Zápoľský, the Salczer family was forcibly expelled from the castle. Around 1530, Ferdinand I occupied the Uhrovec castle militarily, and for his siege of the castle, the castle was taken over by three nobles - Peter Silágyi (de Zylagy) called the Doctor, his relative Michal Silágyi and Žigmund Forgách. The doctor then also acquired Forgách's part of the property and caused a significant reconstruction of the castle. In the years 1533-1546 he completed the lower castle and access to the castle under the cannon bastion.

In 1547, after the Doctor's death without leaving any descendants, King Ferdinand I granted the castle to František Zay of Čemer, against which, however, the widow of Doctor Brigit and many nobles protested. The judge acknowledged her claims and ordered František to compensate her for a relatively large sum, as there had been extensive reconstruction during the Doctor's lifetime. However, František also objected to such a high amount. Brigita married Mikuláš Kostka to increase her position, but instead of supporting him, he took Brigita for property, tortured her locked up at Lietava Castle and wanted to get Uhrovec for himself. However, after the decision of Ferdinand I in 1555, the Uhrovské estate was no doubt in the hands of František Zay.

After the death of Francis (1570), the castle and the manor were divided among his sons. This is confirmed by two donations of Maximilian II. from 1574 and 1576. The Zay family completed the castle in the form of a monolithic, height-balanced whole. In the 17th century, at the time of the uprising and the Turkish threat, the castle served as a refuge for the Zayas and the surrounding nobility. Due to its location, the castle did not find itself in the center of great fighting, it was not even destroyed by Turkish troops during their raids. In the end, the Zay family themselves contributed to its destruction, concentrating their lives in a more comfortable manor house in Uhrovec and maintaining only guard and farm buildings at the castle. In addition, in the second half of the 17th century, disputes arose between them over the maintenance of the castle.

During the 18th century, the castle slowly lost its defensive capacity and was used as a prison. At the beginning of the 18th century, a fire broke out, which destroyed the lower castle. Back in 1802, the Zay family had an emergency repair of part of the roofs of the castle destroyed by the wind, but in 1848 the castle was set on fire by the local insurgent divisions of the Hurbanovci family and since then it has been deserted.

The cleaning of the castle began in 1995, later archaeological research took place and from the beginning of the 21st century the castle was gradually restored. Since 2015, the Uhrovec Castle Trademark has been operating at the castle, which also participates in the reconstruction of the castle.

Death of the castle lord

The castle lord's wife died and he raised his daughter Lucia himself. Once, as an adult, she looked at Tomáš - the commander of the castle guard. Lucia was not indifferent to Tomáš either, but he knew very well that the girl's father would never bless their relationship because they were not equal. Once on a hunt, together with the lord of the castle, they chased the wounded wild boar and Tomáš could not resist the temptation. He shot his companion, who stood in the way of his happiness. Everyone thought the death on the hunt was an unfortunate accident, only the young man was more restless from day to day. He disappeared from the castle a few days later, and was later found dead on the spot where he had ruined his master. Lucia sold the castle, but no one found out where she went.

Fearless castle lady

Below Uhrovec, once on the banks of the stream, there was a sight of Turks preparing to attack the castle. However, the brave castle lady looked out of the walls of their commander bathing in the stream and hit him with an accurate intervention. The clear water of the creek grieved with Turkish blood. The Turks were embarrassed by the effect of the grandmother's bullet and immediately imagined what would happen when the men started shooting at them. They didn't wait a minute and ran so hard that they wouldn't catch up with them even on a hundred horses. Blood spots have appeared on the moonlit night since the Turkish commander died.

The ruins are freely accessible. Reconstruction work is underway.

https://www.hrady-zamky.sk/uhrovec/