A stone house on the site of current Mheer Castle was first mentioned in 1314. It was probably built long before that, because the Lords of Mheer were already mentioned around 1100. In the 14th century the castle went to the Van Imstenraedt family through marriage. The castle stayed in this family until 1668, then it went to the De Loƫ family. They still own the castle.
The castle is situated against the slope of a hill and thus has a dry moat. From the original 14th century castle only wall fragments remain. This original castle probably consisted of three wings surrounding a courtyard with the fourth side closed by a curtain wall. The present bailey dates back to the 16th and 17th century.
The present castle was rebuilt, with the use of original wall fragments, on the medieval foundations in the 17th century. Also in later centuries, up until the 20th century, a lot of rebuilding took place.
References:Linderhof is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed.
Ludwig II, who was crowned king in 1864, began his building activities in 1867-1868 by redesigning his rooms in the Munich Residenz and laying the foundation stone of Neuschwanstein Castle. In 1868 he was already making his first plans for Linderhof. However, neither the palace modelled on Versailles that was to be sited on the floor of the valley nor the large Byzantine palace envisaged by Ludwig II were ever built.
Instead, the new building developed around the forester's house belonging to his father Maximilian II, which was located in the open space in front of the present palace and was used by the king when crown prince on hunting expeditions with his father.