Lower Castle Eschenau

In the divisions of property among the various lines of the Muffel family, a third seat in Eschenau first became tangible in 1639, then appearing as the "lower," later as the "Small Castle" or "Grone's Castle," and located west of the "Large Castle" [cf. Eschenau II] just outside the moats. Like the "Large Castle," the Small Castle also had its own castle courtyard with a series of outbuildings, including a hunter's lodge, a brewery and a farmhouse, as well as stables and barns, a small lord's or kitchen garden with a fountain, and extensive land ownership.

In the first division of property in 1639, the castle was assigned to Johann Jakob Muffel, who possibly gave it its later size and shape in the following years, which it retained until the alterations after 1852. The castle presumably stood on the site of an earlier predecessor building, dating back to the time of Stephan Weigel (1330–1350), to which a series of outbuildings were attached. After 1677, the "Small Castle" passed to his son Heinrich, who in turn passed it on to his son Johann Wilhelm. The latter lived in the castle himself and cultivated the adjacent fields, for the yield of which he had a new barn built in 1705. Through his widow Clara Regina, née Imhoff, the estate came to his eldest daughter Maria Ursula Regina, who in 1737 married the chamberlain Christian Friedrich von Grone, who henceforth called himself "Grone von Eschenau auf Eckenhaid" and whose name was to be transferred to the estate.

Economic hardship forced the owners of the castle to sell parts of their property since the beginning of the 18th century. On November 1, 1751, Friedrich von Grone sold his half of Eschenau with the small castle for 30,000 Thalers (45,000 Guilders) to the Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, reserving only a lifelong right of residence.

In the following decades, the Small or Grone's Castle shared the fate of the "Large Castle" and was sold together with it by Prussia to private individuals in 1798. In just three years, the castle changed hands three times and in 1801 was in the hands of the farmer Johann Stiegler from Kleingeschaidt, who broke up the property complex and sold the Small Castle (with the "small lord's garden") in 1807 for 1750 Guilders, probably to the previous tenants, who acquired the castle jointly. According to the cadastre, the castle was two-story and a quarter solidly built. It also included a small garden, a narrow meadow behind the castle, a bakehouse, and a well next to the access road.

In 1852, the 2nd upper floor of the eastern half and, on this occasion, the last ornamentation were removed, so that since then nothing has remained to remind one of its formerly prominent significance as a castle.